Past, I disbelieved Now, I follow
by Kexy Kewl
Summary: Watching your family be killed in front of you isn't easy. Giving up a perfect life to track down the vampaneze who killed your family by becoming a vampire maybe harder. This is Aadela Felix, desperate for revenge and Darren's saga's redeemer. R&R pls!
1. Preface

**Nice to see you reading my story! Hope you like it. I will very much appreciate if the reader posts some reviews on my work. Constructive criticism is accepted. Enjoy, and take some time to review my first ever fan fic.**

**DISCLAIMER- Darren - "Kexy Kewl! What a surprise!"**

** Me - "Yea, I know!"**

** Darren- "Publish it that you don't own my work or I'll bite your bones, throw you like a short-put ball and sue all the accounts you make on fan fiction. I will also drink your blood!" *grins evily, speaks threatningly***

** Me- I swear by myself that I don't own Cirque du Freak Series! Aahaaa! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**

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Dear new Diary,

I am Aadela Felix, fourteen year old. I am not an avid diary-writer, but I am beginning to think since today that it is a healthy way of venting out your anger and at the same time, keeping your inexpressible feelings to your own. I am kind of an with the exception that I'm intelligent, friendly and kind and I like sports, especially rugby. Not flattering myself or exaggerating, I can safely describe myself as pretty, rich and happy. I am not a feminist, though many consider me to be. In fact, I'm critical of both feminists and chauvinists because I feel that both men and women equally need to live in and run the world. I'm an animal lover, my major interest is dogs. Dogs too, adore me. I don't believe in best friends and groups – I'm of the neutral party. I have a twin brother, and naturally, he's in the same grade as me and even the same section, because we're in a special section specifically meant for toppers. My mom's name is Priya, Dad's Sam, Brother's Saiansh, dog's Choco (because he is chocolate coloured) and cat's Selvie. I also have a cousin named Cher (pronounced as Sher) who shares a bittersweet relationship with me unlike my brother's. My brother and I are on really good terms almost always. Cher is aloof and strong, with a lot of common sense (which is uncommon these days). He is the one who taught me rugby. I love my friends, my family and my life. The one and the only thing I hate about my family – and vice-versa – is that they indulge in orthodox practices. Not like witchcraft or voodoo but hunting – Vampire Hunting.

I mean, it's so ridiculous! We're people of modern times, rich and wealthy enterprisers, and my family believes in this crap. I don't believe in vampires myself, and neither in creatures like fairies, elves, or witches, for that matter. I sit here, penning down furiously whatever comes into my mind, because as I came back from school today, I saw my brother was missing even though he had gone much earlier than me. I asked my mother. Hesitance followed. I realised that my brother had gone to a little 'trip', for he was a deeply passionate vampire hunter. It is said that it was our traditional side-job besides living a normal life, and that half the vampires dead were all thanks to us. My father also says that we are very distantly related to many of the nobility. But I know all that is true and all that is myth – garlic, crosses, water are just items of daily utility to any vampire as they are to us. There are many more, but I don't care to mention here. Let this aspect of my life be mundane. The strange thing is, though, that there were sightings of many killings, with strange markings and properties at least once a year around a ten-mile radius from my habitat.

I am grey-blue eyed, a complexion more towards the lightly tanned side and light-brown, slightly wavy hair. My lips aren't full, but are thin and have a nice shape. My eyes and lips are naturally well defined. My nose is straight and very slightly curved out at the end.

Now as I think my anger has vented out, so I'm finding filling this introductory page boring. So, Diary, I'll write in you soon. At least I can consider you a person when I am filling you out, contrary to what they say in school.

AFadela


	2. An evening

Aadela glided down the marble steps of the staircase with dark-oak banisters. She reached the kitchen, done up in light beige coloured tiles. It was divided in three sections by three red-bricked arches and a graphite counter ran along one side. Curved and yellow retro lanterns hung from the centre of the roof of each division and there were also colourful, artificial hangings of vegetables, meats and decorative cups, saucers and tea-pots. Her house wasn't very big - just bigger than all the houses in the town. She went through the back-door of the kitchen into the lawn which surrounded her house on all sides and began strolling on the dewy grass, adding a stark contrast to the smooth marble or maple wood flooring of her house. She saw a thin and tall figure balancing on top of the stone fences in front of her house, something which seemed like the tails of a cloak flying high in the air. The creature snooped down and landed in a crouching position, one hand fisting the grass and the soil, while the other, open, raised dramatically in the air. Aadela had a vague impression of a human-bat or rather a vampire. Shaking her surprise aside, she walked up to the figure.  
"Cher... I've told you not to climb the fence but instead ring the bell at the gate." Aadela remarked drily to her cousin.

"Climbing is more usual to me." As usual, Aadela felt a double meaning in his words, but overall - nonsense.

"Get up, Climber; we'll go inside." Aadela led Cher to the back-door of the kitchen and bolted it as Cher entered. "You'll have something to eat?"

"I'm fine. Where's Saiansh?"

Aadela started at this question: her brother should be back home by now. Either he had found "something worth discovery" or he was just roaming about idly, probably with a girl. But living with people who believed in strange things, had made her also half-worried. She guided Cher to the lounge a step down behind the drawing room. It was covered with light coloured screens and she slid them back to reveal a sunken, circular area. The area was cozy, and had thick curtains but two large windows. The back-wall was partially built of glass too. There were several brass ornaments and two tall statues on either side of the glass walled portion. There were book-cases too, and further more screened areas lighted up by lamps, and with bean bags or coffee tables and couches. The main section was clearly the most spread out area, with some easy armchairs and a glass table with a beautiful flower vase yywith fresh flowers and a bowl of multi-coloured confetti. Aadela sat down on the armchairs, with Cher on the opposite one, and remote-controlled the curtains to allow natural light just before the armchairs, so that the entire room was well lit by nautral light and the two occupants sat in the cool shade.  
"What happened? What's it that you want to talk about to him?" Aadela asked casually.

"Aadela, I don't always come to meet you solely!" Cher smirked and Aadela frowned slightly. "Well, just idle chatting, you know. Where are your mom and dad?"

"They've gone to some interior designing shops and furniture and paint dealers. They also went to see some hardware resources and to organize movers." Aadela replied.

"Whoa! Why all this housing stuff? I thought your parents had said that your house is fine currently and doesn't need any renovation or more furniture?" Cher exclaimed.

"No. We're moving."

"Where?" Cher asked, surprised.

"Oh, to a town nearby. Mom and dad say that the house is much bigger, and we'll be able to have a more spacious place with all the same furniture and decor, so that we don't feel out of place, and it is closer to the prime destinations of the district, and our house is closer to a bare workstation around which all the senior people of my dad's company have to live close by."

Cher didn't look dismayed or any more curious about this fact. Instead, a strange emotion clouded his mind.  
"Well, I've to leave now; I remembered a job. See you." Cher got up and began walking away.

"What should I tell Saiansh?" Aadela asked.

"Tell him I was here, hoping for a chat. That's obvious, isnt it, Aadela?" Cher smirked and walked smoothly out of the door, climbed over the fence instead of opening it and going out through the gate.

Aadela sighed. She slowly trooped back to the staircase and sat at the lobby made up of the cool marble. She loved the feeling of sitting on cool marble when the day was warm, and the wind was just changing from warm to cool. It felt lovely. She got out her slate and began doodling.

BANG!

Aadela fluttered up in surprise and saw a tired body making way clumsily to the drawing room couches. She jumped down the steps and ran towards the stumbling person.  
Saiansh.  
Aadela stared, appalled, and dragged him onto the couch. He looked really tired and scared. She brought water in one of the ornamental glasses and splashed half of it into Saiansh's face while the rest tipped it into his mouth. She brought a towel, extra water squeezed out of it and began gently dabbing on Saiansh's head to soothe him. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt. She handed him some sweets and ran over to get her phone. She impatiently waited as the number dialed, and before even caring to wait for the receiver to speak, she gushed:  
"Mom! Saiansh's back and he looks tired and scared!"


	3. An argument

**Okay everybody, so listen up! I've uploaded my story a few days ago and my hit stats and visitor stats are doing okay. But reviews are not! So if you even a tiny bit like this story then please please please review, cuz the greatest treasure of a writer is the review and acknowledgement they receive! I will wait for two-three reviews before uploading the next chapter. So review and stay tuned!**

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The familiar sound of heels clipping across the hard floor, only much quicker this time, reached Aadela's ears. She rushed to open the doors and both she and her mother stopped abruptly, with expressions of confusion and anxiety etched over their faces. Her mother stood slightly tilted, what with the effort of running in heels on the smooth and hard stone. Priya gave a fleeting peck to Aadela before she sat down beside Saiansh.  
"Aadela, shut the door and go down to the cellar and help your father there." Aadela ran down to the lounge, removed a rug at the far corner, hit some tiles very hard in a particular order and ran to the video-phone close by. The video-phone was used to question the people who rang the bell, but Aadela pressed the three buttons in a complicated order. Automatically, the part of the tiles which she had knocked shook, and started collapsing neatly, revealing a dark hole with white marble steps reaching down. She went down the stairs and instantly a light sprang up and the square hole closed itself.  
"Dad?" Aadela spoke uncertainly.

"Help me with the knives, Aadela. Clean them and their cases and go back up. I'll carry the darts." Sam spoke.

"Dad, what's happening?" Aadela asked, as she got down to the job given to her.

"We'll see that later. Now hurry and come quick." Sam went up through the hole which had appeared again, after pressing another combination, leaving Aadela alone. Frowning furiously, she did her job very quickly and followed her father. When she reached back up, she saw that her entire family was sitting in the lounge by the central table. They had a laptop opened up, and she quickly handed her father the knives who began arranging all the things. Saiansh was sitting close to mother, and her mother was carefully working on the laptop. Aadela sat beside her mother and looked curiously. Her mother had opened a highly advanced version of some picture editor, probably Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator.  
"So, what did you see, dear?" Mother asked Saiansh in a cool and afffectionate voice.

"I saw a tall and thin man, really ugly one, having a bit of a quarrel with his half-vampire assistant. Both were male, the vampire looked like he frowns alot and loves to be sarcastic and the boy looks new, slightly sullen but enthusiastic." Saiansh narrated gloomily.

"Hmm... So you didn't expect to make such a discovery, and naturally you became afraid?" Mother asked softly.

Saiansh a bit. He looked really confused and surprised, though much more sober than before, "Yes."

"Now, describe the full one as accurately as possible. If we decide to catch the half-vampire, the full one will get the warning and run away, and why should he care about one boy while he can get dozens of assistants? But if we catch the full one, we will be able to catch the helpless half one too." Saying so, Priya clicked on the laptop and opened up something.

"He had a strange face - long and squarish or trianglish. Pretty sallow and pale."

"Triangle-cum-square?" Priya asked uncertainly.

"Well, squarish at the top and coming to a point from the jaw."

"His skin colour?"

"Very white."

"Hair features, colour and appearance?" Mother asked all the way as she constructed some images on the monitor.

"Orange like hair. Only a small tuff on top of his head. Thin and dirty."

"Eyes?"

"Dark grey."

"Nose?"

"Long, at a certain angle looks slightly crooked, but is otherwise straight."

"Mouth?"

"Dirty brownish-red. Crooked or tilted. Thin."

"Any other feature?"

"A long, ugly purple scar down the left cheek. From the left ear, to the mouth. It looks like his mouth was stretching up the side of his face. The scar is mostly towards the ear and thin on the cheekbones and the jaw."

After a few minutes of continous clicking and silence, Priya finally tilted the laptop towards rest of the family.  
"Is this somewhat close to the face of the vampire?"

"Yes." Saiansh muttered.

"Well." Sam spoke after a long time. "I suppose all we can do is to gather our resources and stuff the cellar with some supplies, close the glass wall with the metal shutters and wait till the morning. Meanwhile, we'll plan the strategy. Where did you find him, son?"

"Near Swingpump Lane."

"Hmm... More's the pity. Swingpump isn't so far. Would have been better if it had been Quay Street." Sam remarked. "But the thing is, it's evening. Let's not waste our time and take the precautions."

"I will take the supplies down to the cellar." Priya replied. "Let me just save this clip and take a printout of this sketch."

"Yes, that'll be good. Saiansh, go and get yourself sorted and enable the screens and locks in our rooms. I will check our security system here and raise up the walls and gather the weapons. Aadela, as you are very excellent in martial arts, go and stand guard at the window from the turret."

Everyone began to leave, save one. "Why should I?" Aadela hissed, stopping everyone in their tracks. "Why should I, when I don't believe in all the nonsense you follow! You're in danger and fright from your own crazy imaginations!"

"Do as your father says, Aadela. This is no joking situation." Priya reprimanded.

"Yeah, for just the sake of getting spooked out by something which is utterly nonsense? I think not!"

"Aadela, you're fourteen year old now and for the past nine years we've been trying to explain you - we're not insane! What we do is actually worthwhile, unless you want people with slit throats everyday." Sam explained helplessly, but firmly.

"Father, why are you all always after fairy tales?" Aadela finally screamed. "I'm sick of your such orthodox thoughts. I'm sure people living in Germany or Romania will not even be a sixteenth as orthodox as you!"

"Aadela!" Saiansh spoke, appalled.

"Don't talk to your father like that!" Priya snapped. "You should know better than to argue with your parents like that."

"Aadela, there are three people voting against you, and unless you want to be dragged, then come!" Sam spoke severely.

"Father, I've the world with myself included against you." Aadela hissed.

"Aadela, why are you being so difficult?" Saiansh asked, irritated.

"And why are you being so like an old woman, who believes in vampires or ghosts but lives in a wealthy, modern, educated and high status area?" Aadela snapped back. "You know, I think it's a really 'bloody' waste arguing with you guys. I'm going. Whenever you wish to come back, be my guests, or rather, my family!" Aadela stomped up the marble steps, creating much more noise than required.

"Aadela, Aadela!" Mother called out, both furiously and anxiously, but Aadela was gone.


	4. The agreement

**Okay! 'tis a short chapter, but the next few chapters will be worth it! :D **

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It was hard not to fling things onto the floor. Even harder, as she was pretty much of an expert in many kinds of martial arts. Aadela collapsed into her balloon-chair, trying to focus on the cool sensation spreading from the wooden floor into her legs. Finally, she got up and went to her balcony. The barrier consisted of a glass wall supported by black and strong iron frames, with iron railing rising at the top. Aadela sighed. She didn't like arguing with her family and she felt silly too, going nuts about a topic such as vampires. But of course, any sane person will agree with her that vampires don't exist.

Aadela didn't want to open her door. But then curiosity got better of her and she went outside: silence. She walked across the corridor which overlooked the ground floor, to her left. Her brother's room was not locked, but its door was shut. There was nobody there. Aadela walked further and turned up at the corner to see if anyone was at the gallery. No luck. She retraced her steps, and from her initial position, began walking straight ahead towards the location of her parents', the two office and the two guest rooms. The result was the same. Aadela knew that her parents or her brother wouldn't be up at the attic or at the terrace.

Her anger and frustration returned, and she eventually went back to her room and locked the door. She drew the shutter to seperate the space of her room from her open balcony and switched on her computer. She loved net-surfing. Playing some games at the miniclip relaxed her, and after some time she looked at the clock. Goodness! It was more than an hour since she had been at the computer! Petrified at the thought of her eyes being damaged, she hurriedly switched off her computer. Now that her anger had ebbed away, restlessness had taken its place. To relax further, she switched on her MP3 Player at top volume, finally falling asleep.

It was much later than dusk when she woke up. Her room had not even a single ray of light, and her agility and grace helped her to wander easily without falling around to the switchboard. When she switched on the light, she was amazed to see that the time was almost ten of night. She quickly unbolted her door and rushed down. There, at the dinning area, three figures were sitting seperately, but obviously hunched up. A yellow light hung up, making the scene look like one of the American mafia movies, where instead of black and white there was black and yellow. Almost like a bi-coloured animation.

Everyone jerked up stiffly when they heard her footsteps. Aadela gazed at them apologetically, but not submissively. Even though she didn't herself believe in vampires, she was still always a bit weary of incidents related with too much speed and strength. But still, she wasn't ready to admit that vampires did exist. Saiansh was lounging on two chairs, and seeing his sister, straightened up on one chair.  
"Hey." he said quietly.

"Hey." Aadela found herself trying to be more enthusiastic in tone with great difficulty. It reminded her even more of a bar done up in yellow lights only, where all the people came to drink to their fill and vomitted their woes on the various deaths involved in their lives, while the barman always wore a white apron, a very light grey-blue shirt, black pants and a red bow-tie, who was bald on to the top and had a bushy moustache. In fact, due to the shadow, Aadela indeed looked as if she had a moustache. She knew this and this made her feel even more like the barman in her imagination.

"Here's your dinner. You were alseep so we didn't wake you up." her father passed on the plate to her and spoke quietly, but not sternly.

"Thanks."

"Aadela, we've decided not to involve you in our beliefs any more. I don't think any of us can be critical of each other, and besides, it's easier to keep you safe if you aren't involved: that way, you listen and won't protest." Aadela's mother piped up.

Aadela felt slightly amused. "Fine, but you aren't going to leave your own ways, are you?" she asked, playing with her food, softly. She had caught up on the missing link in the story.

A pause. "No." Priya replied firmly.

"Well, I guess that's the best bargain anybody can get." Aadela looked up and smiled slightly. The others smiled back at her. "So, where did you go?"

"Well, I went to the cellar to prepare the injections and poison darts. It was safer for me there. Suppose the vampires had realised that they had been spied upon? They may be wandering around to search a home but if they saw me and probably recognised me, they would have definitely attacked us." Saiansh stated. "And then I had ensured the barriers from the cellar below, especially ones close to your room."

"I went to the terrace to keep an eye from there. A bullet from the top would've done good. Plus I had to get the printouts and shut all the primary escape routes, leaving our secrets routes open only." Priya added.

"I moved the furniture out of the way and closed the lights. I stood there to guard and got the common weapons like pepper-spray, wires and water assembled. After a few hours, we assembled back to this place at the dining area. We kept turns for our watch. We had waited long enough, plus we had to ensure your safety too. After a few more hours, we sat down together, had our dinner and kept our weapons close by." Sam completed.

"So, what do we do now?" Aadela asked.

"Nothing much, we just sit here. Just don't go too far from the block and try not to be without a vehicle. And for my sake, please carry a pepper spray. Not only for vampires, but other mischief makers." Priya replied.

"Okay."

Things were okay again, with everyone happy. Saiansh went out again, and replied that he'd seen some friends of the vampires and they were pretty much probably talking about him. Although he was tensed, but not scared as before.


	5. An end

It was two-three days since the "agreement". Aadela used to stay a bit hunched up these days, and everyone in her family knew that she had a very strong intuition. She felt the inevitability of something. Of course, the family used to be curious and a bit anxious but said little. Most nervous of them all was Saiansh. His recent expeditions had drained him of the tremendous courage he had. Of course, he never asked his sister the matter, to prevent making her more irritated. He used to hang out with Cher more than before. The two always used to ask Aadela to join them, but feigning an "off-mood", she used to skip out. Though actually, she felt a bit apprehensive of Cher these days.

It was late at night, about 12 a.m. Aadela sat up, irritated. The neighbourhood was exceptionally quiet. It felt unnatural. It's okay, she thought to herself, nothing is wrong or is going to go wrong. Suddenly, she felt thirsty. Aadela slipped on her slippers, unbolted the door and stepped quietly onto the open corridor. Her limbs were shaking: there had been a creak, right at the base of the staircase. Too heavy a creak for any of her family members. Multi-coloured dots began to appear in front of her eyes. In a fit of sheer panic, she galloped down the stairs two at a time, stumbling over them. She paused for a moment and before she could shriek, a huge bundle collided into her and she fell down on the first step.  
"Ow!"

"Aadela?" a voice whispered.

"Saiansh! Thank goodness, I was so terrified!" Aadela wiped her brow.

"Aadela, what are you doing here?" Saiansh hissed furiously.

"I, uh, I came to get a glass of water." Aadela muttered, confused by Saiansh's reaction.

"You shouldn't have..." Saiansh moaned. "Go back to your room, please, I beg you! Go!" He pleaded.

"What is it?" Aadela whispered back.

"Oh!" Saiansh moaned again and began clambering up the staircase. Aadela followed him quickly, trying to graI sp him, but he always deftly eluded her. He ran across the corridor with its wall hangings towards their parents' rooms. He abruptly turned around and Aadela very nearly knocked him down. They stood there, panting and then Saiansh held Aadela's arms firmly and shook her as if she was the one in shock.  
"Aadela, we're in big trouble. I should've listened to you, but-" Saiansh began, but this time, it was Aadela who wasn't listening. Instead, she was gaping not at him, but behind him. Saiansh immediately lost his business like tone, and shook Aadela again, but this time, with less impact.  
"What, what is it?"

"I don't know..." Aadela whispered, petrified.

And then, in a swirl, a purple dart flew through. Her reflexes were always very sharp from birth, and so, Aadela hurriedly ducked out of the way instinctively crash landed at the turning point. But her landing was nothing compared to the sickening landing of her brother: he had flown the length of the corridor, at the door of her room and his head had connected with the metal vases there.  
"Saiansh!" Aadela screamed and bawled at the same time.

"Aadela, for my sake, go to mom and dad! Just go!" Saiansh managed to keep his voice bold even though the pain must've been great.

Aadela swiftly nodded, and being a sensible girl, noted the high urgency in Saiansh's voice. She knew that going to her parents only would help Saiansh. She ran and stumbled as she saw a similar purple coloured creature in front of her. The young man leered at her and raised his arms in a combating position. Aadela was very well trained in martial arts, but she was left momentarily confused, as she analysed how extraordinarily strong the man was. Having no time to waste, she buckled out of his reach swiftly, twisted around, buckled one hand into his collar bone and one foot straight at his groin. The man staggered with the impact, and Aadela shuffled to the other side and pushed him sideways.

Aadela ran towards her parents' door but just as she was about to reach it, her head sharply reclined, with her hair being pulled out to the height of cruelty, and a upside down face glared into hers. "I don't like bitches who can fight dogs in only one way." he muttered, and in the same way, he dragged Aadela towards the railing and pushed her off.  
"AAAAHHHAHAHAHAH!"

Aadela landed on her side. She spread her hand over her head because it felt unusually wet. When she removed the hand, she almost lost consciousness: her hand was plastered with blood..  
And then at her side, she felt something with a long and triangular shape. Desperately fighting against the black-out, she reached towards the shape with strained hands: a 9mm. She never knew how to use a gun, let alone a 9mm, but from watching her parents often practising in the cellar, she quickly checked the magazine, and to her delight it was fully loaded. Trying hard to stable her trembling hands, with difficulty she moved the trigger and almost moved the muzzle when a bang echoed in the air. Aadela had aimed the 9mm to the man's body or the chandelier right above him, but she missed her aim and instead it riocheted at her parents door and back at the M.C.B. The dim lamps of the room flickered, and with a huge explosion, the M.C.B blasted, setting fire to the entire ground floor. A shard of the plastic container hit the base of the chandelier and the chandelier collapsed probably much more dramatically than the Titanic and soon, the entire scene was of fire and glass.

Aadela tried to crawl, but the glass shards with unmercifully pierced her skin made it difficult so. Her head was bleeding at an even more alarming rate, and slowly-slowly, dark patches were changing to complete black outs in her vision.  
"DISHKYAON! DISHKYAON! DISHKYAON!" Went the sound of bullets.

And there was yet another clamber. Her parents rushed down, armed to the teeth and the sound of their bullets was followed by the sound of glass shards being snapped into debris. Aadela could see another man had jumped down from the near by windows, and one was gliding from the staircase to the terrace. The men had made their way towards her parents. No knife, no poison dart, no bullet or no kick had a lethal effect on the men. Their leers became even more vulgar, stance even more carefree, walk even more aggressive. She could see that the her mother's last round was over, and she had drawn her kukri knives from their cases. Priya managed a deep slash on the shoulders of one of them and caused him to trip on the other as she kicked him in the stomach. The man who had tripped crashed right down the floor, very close to the burning staircases. The one whom he had tripped on lay still. The man who battled Sam, who was now aided by Priya, was clearly the leader, and the strongest of them all.

Somehow the sharp sounds cleared Aadela's mind, and she tore her night gown fiercely, and making a crude toga out of it wrapped it around her skull. She cautiously began climbing the staircase, never touching the railing. And like a zombie, came staggering the man who had fallen down from the floor. Aadela turned around to face him. She caught his fist in her hands, twisted his arm and tried to push him. He recoiled back, and instead grabbed her own arms and pushed her all the way upto the landing. Aadela jumped down and landed on his surprised chest, tried to bang his head on the step. He in turn crudely fisted her hair, and brought it down heavily onto the railing. Instinctively, she poked her fingers in his eyes and ran up like a mad hare up where Saiansh lay. She swung her head from corner to corner: Saiansh wasn't there!

And then she heard his cry from across the corridor and looked upto see Saiansh with a crossbow; he was always good at aiming. She ran upto him and saw that his balance wasn't good. He shot and she hit with her bare hands. Had Aadela known the strength of the man in front of her, she would'v been surprised at her own skill - she caused pretty much pain to the enemy too. And then the supposed leader of the trio grolwed and before she could know it, Aadela was floored down.

"Enough is with you!" the man growled louder, and Aadela sensed the frustration yet arrogance in him. "You think that scum like _you_ can even dream of catching us! Do you even know who we are?" he growled nastily. He had purple skin, blood red eyes and looked like a ghastly version of a sinister ogre. Aadela could smell slime and spit on him clearly through the stench of blood. He gruffly got hold of Sam's hair and pulled his head upright.

"You're monsters, all of you!" Sam barked. The man banged his foot heavily down onto Sam's back, and blood oozed out from his mouth.

"Papa!" Saiansh cried out in protest.

The men soon reached to him and gave him a brutal backhand, and were about to give him another when one of the man sneered. "Hey, if it isn't our little Nosey Parker!"

"Yea! Tell mommy and daddy and sis about your escapades!" another jeered. A pause. "Tell them, will you, or I'll stab your sister!" he reached upto Aadela and she quickly shrank away. She looked pleadingly at Saiansh. He looked very embarrassed and troubled.

"I - I - went ne - next d - day to - to - to see if the va - va - vampire is still there." Saiansh narrated through broken sobs. "I - I found them." He beckoned upto the men near by. "And - and, I spied on them. I th - thought they would know ab - about the vampire. I - I never realised they knew I watched them!" And finally he burst crying.

"Such a baby! Coochie- coochie- coo!" they laughed. The leader spoke up again, this time, dead grimly, "So you see, spying on undead doesn't help... And the only sentence we could pass for this crime is - DEATH!" he spoke the last line evily. "So whom shall we do with first?" An irritating pause. And suddenly he burst out "The boy indeed - he isn't that much fun!"

And without even a pause after this cruel statement, one of the men reached up and before anyone could even say "oops!", stomped spitefully onto Saiansh's spine... His cries momentarily increased with intense pain and then stopped. He was limp.

"Saiansh!" Sam and Priya cried.  
"You, you bloody bastards!" Aadela reeled up. The leader reached upto her, and clenched her head and forced her to look up. "Save the best for the last!" he commented and the other two men dragged her parents' pitiful bodies. And with an unruly kick, the bodies went packing towards the floor and the fire which bursted even cheerfully, as if to welcome them, destroyed the skin of the bodies. And then right at the centre of their forehead, hit the kukri knives.  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Aadela screamed. She slithered back and fell down on her back. The men then dragged back the corpses of her dead family, and began feeding like disgusting blood suckers off them. Aadela whimpered and dull anger rose up in her. She knew that the men weren't at all hungry: they just fed out of lust and spite. She knew this because she had observed that their eyes weren't black red - just plain red.

And then they began apporaching her, with their mouths full of blood and vile intentions clearly etched upon their faces.  
"So what say you, sugar, wanna come join us?" one leered.

"Come one, girl, please us and we may let you off!" another.

"Or you could care to join us for a drink!" And all three burst into fits of laughter.

Two of them reached at her legs. Aadela struggled like a mad horse and did what she detested doing: spit. She spit flat onto the man's face, into his mouth and he recoiled in disgust.  
"Break her hand!" he spat.

One of the others raised his foot and brought it down sharply on her left arm. And then just as the pain was about to become greater, everything ebbed away. Snarls, growls, curses, jeers, wrestles and clangs. Yet more struggle. Bangs. Aadela saw through slitted eyes that more blood was coming out, this time from her hands. And she also saw something she wouldn't have dreamt of seeing in her wildest dreams - Cher.  
"Cher..." she moaned.

He came trotting upto her and leaned by her side, taking her head very gently into his lap.  
"Aadela, you're gonna be fine!" he whispered tenderly.

"Cher... go away... they'll kill you too..." she spoke with huge gasps.

"Aadela... I'm fine..." Cher replied. "I've come to help you..."

"Cher..." Aadela moaned for the last time of the day. Before she finally reached unknown bottoms, she thought she could hear Cher crying or shaking her in anguish and surprise. And then, nothing but peaceful, cool death, after hot fires and wounds...


	6. The dawn and the night

"Could tears ever finish? No. They just stop for the meanwhile, because you're in too deep a shock to show any outwardly reaction, but inside... inside, you cry, cry till your mind and heart drowns away and pain bleeds away to leave an ugly and volatile scar."

* * *

Rare were the times when bright light from outside came. When the light did come, the eyes became too tired to observe and examine the light, and fell asleep again. Equally rare were the times when a gentle touch could not be felt. The world was dark, and the life the eyes led rare. Everything was rare. And yet, life wasn't tough: there was food, drink, rest and care but one thing always remained missing - soft caresses, and most of all joy. And one forunate day, when the eyes decided that their life of austerity and silence was enough, they fluttered open, slowly, and didn't fall asleep again. Instead, they hesistated for a million times and then finally faced the world. Pale blue, haggard eyes... No rest could ever make them energetic again, but that wasn't what Aadela first thought, as she saw the dark alley around her.

"Aadela... Aadela?" Came a soft voice. Aadela slowly swung her head around to see Cher sitting by her, holding her in his arms and kissing her forehead. This was her cousin, but what about her family?

"Cher..." Aadela muttered. "Where are we?"

Cher became serious again, but never dropped his concerned expression. "Ads, you must know that I, your cousin, am your only family in this country..."

Aadela meekly gazed up at Cher, Her jaw trembled, temple pounded, eyes moistened and gaze lowered. And then she burst into tears. Her cool nature drowned and brought to surface the darling, sweet, innocent and young girl that she was. Her body rocked to and fro, each natural action she did to wipe her tears triggered them even more, and sounds of great anguish passed through her lips. Cher grabbed her head gently and still holding it, firmly rested on his shoulder and rubbed his other hand across her back. In seconds, his shoulder was dripping wet. And when the tears stopped, howls came out through Aadela's mouth and Cher tipped a bottle of water into her mouth. She removed herself from his shoulder and stared at him with a strange intensity that Cher did not meet.

As soon as Aadela became in control of herself again, she tried moving herself away, but landed flat on her stomach with pain, as she saw her feet held out at odd angles.  
"Careful." Warned Cher, "You haven't recovered even halfway and the amount and damage of your wounds is tremendous." He held out his hand, and when Aadela took it, he reclined her back towards the wall in an easy position.

"What happened?" Aadela asked, her voice still patchy.

"I was driving my car around the district late at night. When I was some blocks away, I saw very uncommon sparks. I drove straight ahead, only to find cacophony all around me, and your house in flames..." Cher broke off for a while. "Well, I quickly got some help, and myself led the way. I crashed onto the first floor and found the villains and knocked them out. I gave you some quick first aid, then went in search of your family. I could see from a distance that they were no longer in this world... I rushed back to you just in time: your wounds had begun to bleed again... I took you far, far away, and now we're anything but safe, until your health improves."

A long pause... "Cher?" Aadela piped up after a few minutes.

"You hungry? I've got some veg. sandwitches, tinned meats, some biscuits and toffees and a coke and bottled mineral water or so." Cher recited.

"No... I'm not hungry." Aadela replied dully. "But I somehow feel... different. I mean I'm tired and vulnerable, but there's a new sort of energy in me, if you know what I mean."

Cher kept quiet for a while. Then, he spoke up "Sometimes, you must do what you don't like in order to survive. And doing is just not enough: you need to go along with it too, maybe follow it. It may be for the best only..." But nothing more.

Aadela didn't pay attention to what he said. She was just drowning.

* * *

Days passed and Aadela very gradually improved. Cher didnt talk to her much, and neither did she care that much. She slept half of the day, and the other half tried to will herself back to sleep, to avoid the deep impact of loneliness and that of being an orphan. Yes, she was empty, but her soul wasn't. Cher half-carried her, half-supported her as they travelled through the night, from one alley to the other street to the small sheds to the carelessly open garages. They would travel at night and rest in the morning. Though she never actually felt hungry, she felt a very strange sort of starvation. A starvation which she felt was very otherworldly, even inhuman. Her wounds were multiple, and their impact severe. She had fractured her left arm, her right wrist was sprained and so were both of her feet. There was a long burn down her side and some of the blood had clogged on her head. Several muscles were twisted and her entire body was covered in cuts ranging from deep to surface ones. Her mouth got swollen due to repititive blows and her entire body was blue-black.

Aadela had never known that Cher could be a very good doctor. He nursed her very well, gave her the correct dosage of ointments, anti-biotics (for with all those injuries she was definitely running a fever) pain killers. He dressed her wounds and changed the bandages everyday, applying appropriate amount of sceptic. He washed her and helped her to dress showing full modesty and sometimes even massaged her back. He tended to her concernedly and also like how a brother would take care of his ill sister.

Aadela hummed to herself most of the time when she was awake. She had nothing else to do as Cher used to be rather sulky during mornings. The hurt, the dependence and the loneliness gradually brought Aadela back to the world and ebbed away some of her grief. She tried to stay neutral but much of it was in vain. Sometimes she would wimper in her sleep or even burst to tears in mornings. Sometimes her eyes would remain moist for the entire day. The days she was neutral, she sometimes wondered why he cycles hadn't arrived yet. One night, her stomach ached dreadfully: not because of cramps, but due to hunger.

That was very uncommon and she hesitated a second to wake Cher up. Finally, she whispered from a distance: "Cher?"

Immdiately he bolted up. "Yeah?"

"I'm feeling hungry." she replied.

"Hungry?" he asked suspiciously. Aadela didn't respond.

"Aadela. What I'm going to tell you now is very important. Please don't try to make this difficult for me by being emotional or interrupting." Cher slid close to her and held her hand in both of his, steadfast. Aadela didn't reply: what could be more shocking that your family was massacred?

"You were very critical when I rescued you. Lots of bleeding, injuries and some internal bleeding. Plus the minor or deep cuts were like cherries on the top. I took you away to a place as far as possible, without you becoming even more critical. Your heartbeat and breath both were very slow. Do you remember how the creatures who savaged your home were?"

Creatures? "Wild... Strange skin, beady and deadly eyes. Inhuman and malignant." Aadela spat out.

"Give one word for them.''

"Vampires." The word slipped out unbidden from Aadela's lips. Her hand instinctively reached up her mouth. Cher raised his eyebrows like where you agree or are impressed.

"Yes, vampires. They are extra strong, fast, agile, live longer than usual and are too savage and cunning. Vampirism is the only boon a vampire can give, though it can be considered one of the many banes a vampire could give also. As a boon, it can be granted once and only once to a person in deep danger - by creating them a vampire too. Have you ever thought about why I only come to visit you in evenings and however much I like afternoon or morning trips, always decline them?"

Aadela's expression was gradually changing from plain to surprised. And now, the expression was very near shock. "NO!" She screamed out.

"Being your cousin, I should be in many of your photo frames; why am I not, then?" Cher went on. "Why do my remarks often sound ones which have double meanings, yet on the whole rubbish? Why do you say so constantly 'You haven't changed', regarding my appearance while I always reply that you age at a mutant rate? Why, Aadela, why?"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE A GODDMANED VAMPIRE, YOU SHTTING BASTARD! A MANGY DOG LIVING IN SHIT!" Aadela roared and ran towards Cher, who had moved aside a few spaces. She reached out to clench his body into liquid sooner than she expected but actually found herself lying hunched up on the floor, with Cher hovering above her, his feet easily pinning her legs and his hands securing her hands in pincer grasps.

"I couldn't do anything more." Cher pressed harder.

"You killed them!" Aadela pushed back Cher and began marching towards him, her strength reinforced by her rage.

"I didn't kill them! I came to protect YOU!" Cher retreated back into the alley.

"You knew what was going to happen!" Aadela screamed on top of him.

"I swear I didn't!" Cher moved back and forth like the wind.

"YOU'RE LYING, YOU MURDERER!"

"I love you Aadela, like my sister! I would never kill you or hurt you in anyway!"

"Just fuck you!" Aadela marched towards him.

"Aadela! You will not kill me!" Cher screamed so loud that Aadela had to momentarily cover her ears.

Aadela stopped in her tracks. She looked confused and her head was tilted. Then, she thrust her head back and began laughing; laughing like a maniac. Indeed, she looked some patient in an asylum, what with her weird robes, pale skin, dark and sallow features and hair like a bird's nest.

"Why won't I kill you, dear cousin?" Aadela spat out the last word, sniggering.

"Because, you're like me now. I told you, to save a life a vampire can gift vampirism. You too, are a vampire." Cher replied with a deadly calmness. "And if you don't want to die painfully, you'll have to learn to live from me."

"What?" Aadela sank down to the floor, dazed. "You're lying, aren't you?" And with that, Aadela burst into tears.

Cher walked upto her and slowly knelt by her side. He held her and she, having forgotten her anger in the jiffy of discovery of her new life, reclined her head back into his shoulders.


	7. Acceptance

Dear Diary,

Life can't be better. My family was butchered. I live like a rat in dirty streets now. And now, I've on my mind the experience of a mere childishness to live, much more than losing my young girl self - the unbelievable is my life now: vampirism. I wish it was a joke to irritate rather than to understand, but unfortunately, irritating jokes are not a vampire's cup of tea. Neither are they the cup of tea of a half-vampire. Yes... I am a half-vampire now, tainted by some amount of vampire blood, flowing with my human blood. And for becoming a half-vampire, you need a full vampire patron kind. The good news is, my colleague-in-blood (as we adressed the ones who "blood" us - or transform us) is Cher.

Observing Cher for just a mere two-three days makes me feel vampire world as dry, (well, not exactly) aloof and cold. We travel like crazies. We're supposed to adapt our minds to withstand boredom, stress and appreciate logic. Cher told me straight off that these aspects could be learnt and taught by me to myself. A few days later, he continues, he will gradually begin teaching me how to utilize best my super speed, strength and agility into fighting and hunting. I haven't much apologized to Cher after calling him some rather outrageous things, but he's okay with it.

Vampires aren't that "evil". They drink only some of human blood. Their counterparts are the vampaneze, who drain humans entirely. Vampaneze are the ones who killed my family. And I can't even go to visit the ruins of my house, for as Cher and I mutually agree, the house will be a hotspot for investigation, what with the grand house burned down with its very financially and politcally influencing owners. If I appear again, I'll be stuck in a hell of a world with legal procedures and all. As for security, well, the vampaneze will scour through the city to find me. I can't do much now, but Cher has given me enough of an aim himself: give them a cruel death once you've grown up.

And that growing up may take a long time. I will age only one year in every five. Cher says it'll be beneficial if I continue with my regular studies. Of course I can't go to regular schools now, and even though I won't get burnt, I wont blend with the crowd. He'll get me some study material though. The good thing is, I don't need to do any more maths. Though, I'll now need to leanr more geography and cultural history and some politics, becuase it helps alot as we are frequent travelers.

I think the best option now is just to accept life as it is now, while keeping the flame of sorrow ever burning - but not consuming - in my soul, with aim of revenge and perfection. Trust me, diary, if you were a person, I wouldn't have told you anything as far. I hope to writee in you soon, since I consider you as the only person - thing - I can confide and be cool about it.

AFdela


	8. The first Hunt

"You're ready?"

"Yep." Aadela replied, fitting on her Reebok shoes. She sighed and followed her cousin. He easily whipped her onto his back and began flitting. It was deep night and Aadela could feel tingling in her entire body. Before she could even realise when the journey had started, they had come to a rest.

"We're in a place a little ahead of Bransty." Cher said. "Get off, now."

Aadela slid off Cher's back, a little dizzily. She took in the clean environment, for the first time away from the heightened noises of the city, its stinking sewers and dark alleys. Or rather, it was her own perception that had changed: scent, vision, hearing - all played roles, however minute, in life.

"Why've we come here?" Aadela casually questioned, her eyes shifting from one spot to another, never hovering anywhere more than a second. Cher flinched a bit at this and scratched his ear as if Aadela had just poked it lightly with a sharp object.

"You'll do well to speak low, Aadela. We can hear whispers as if you're clearly talking to us. Practise your tone, otherwise you won't get anywhere without making any vampire deaf." Cher smiled. Aadela too smiled. It was rather funny.

"And secondly," Cher continued, becoming serious again, "You can never be hungry and thirsty at the same time. Always, one feeling overpowers the other. But for us, being hungry and thirsty mean the same. So when you want to have an _exotic_ meal, you might want to say, 'I'm hungry and thirsty.' This will never confuse anybody."

"So I get, that we've come here to feed." Aadela flatly stated.

"I never doubted your cleverness, which is another thing that inclined me to save you, for I was sure I would miss your wit." Cher smiled again. Aadela's eyes darkened and she began shifiting her gaze again. "Follow me." Cher ordered before anything else occured.

They ran. They ran or they flew, Aadela couldn't really make out. Aadela could sense Cher's need to feed. And she could also sense the geometric rate of the growth of her skills. Her new skills had, as Cher told her, emerged out much quickly than at the usual rate. They travelled through the night, Aadela easily keeping pace with Cher. It was surprising, as Cher was a full vampire, thus he was more powerful than her.

"Go hide behind the trees." Cher commanded as they came to a stop. Aadela did so and full of curiosity, she watched. Cher hid himself too, though a little away from her and patiently waited. Aadela was almost about to fall asleep, when suddenly, there was a clang. Or rather, it sounded as a clang to Aadela. Before she could even summon her senses, Cher entered the grove, easily carrying, or rather wearing, a woman in her sixties. He put here down.

"I hope you're just going to drink from her: people might misinterpret." Aadela teased.

"Well, that's why I got you, so that people don't misinterpret." Cher teased back. He bent down and Aadela did the same. He scratched his finger two inches or so long and the blood oozed out from the woman's veins. Cher immediately clamped his mouth to the bleeding spot. Aadela stared in shock: that was so creepy. Cher looked up after some time, his mouth outlined by dark red.

"Your turn. Just simply suck the blood as you suck juice via straw."

"No!" Aadela stumbled back.

"No?"

"No! No!" Aadela fumbled.

"Why?" Cher asked, simply too surprised.

"It's - It's - Disgusting! I can't drink blood! I'm not a freak or a cannibal!" Aadela argued.

Cher gazed at her simply. "Well, if you don't want to, you don't have to." Aadela expected him to say something angry, or even if he said that, she thought he would speak irritated: so she was surprised. "You may drink when you wish. I felt the same when I became a half-vampire."

"So I may not drink?" Aadela inquired.

"I'm not saying that. You will have to drink one time or the other, but you're excused this time. Come on, if you're ready." Cher hunched low, gesturing Aadela to climb him. Aadela had seen what Cher did to stop the bleeding and what he did to bottle the blood. She knew how the woman would feel once she woke up - she would have no memory of what happened to her, and she'll scuttle along.

Aadela climbed up Cher, and the two disappeared into the night.

* * *

**This is just a short come-back chapter, to inform those who read that both me and Aadela are alive. I had stopped writing 'cuz I was disappointed with the lack of reviews. **


	9. Training

Never, did the young Aadela think, that life could be so _brutal.  
_

"Get your limbs working, for my sake!" and there echoed Cher's voice all throughout the hill.

"I'm trying my best, mister!" Aadela snarled back.

Cher was giving Aadela some training in martial arts and the ways to fight. Aadela's arm coincided with Cher's leg, which Cher quickly lifted and twisted it around, aiming straight for Aadela's legs. Aadela's grasped Cher's leg, anchoring it on her wrist. Cher's left leg smashed against Aadela's wrist and performing a brief cartwheel, there was a rapid succession of arm attacks. Their arms blocked the other's, while at the same time attempted to push back their opponent. Cher pushed his right hand and Aadela recoiled back, almost getting smashed up the tree behind her. Aadela stepped quickly on the bark, and taking fair advantage of her heigtened speed, made what seemed like a big, single leap from one tree to the another.

Unfortunately, the trees weren't lined in proper ring like sequence. Aadela peered ahead, a bit dissappointed and immediately saw Cher almost about to reach the final tree. Cher and she both reached the final tree at the same time. Aadela merely, stepped lightly on the tree, twirled gracefully and retraced her tracks. Cher followed her side by side, both of them grinning at each other. Cher reached the first tree before Aadela, and Aadela did the same as previous time. The very instant, Cher was at the end of the chain. And Aadela gave a leap which would make her the object of envy for every predator.

Aadela lept down from the middle tree in the chain, and giving an almost animalistic run, launched herself upon Cher. Cher reclined easily on his back and gave a kick on Aadela's knees. Aadela twisted around, lying side by side with Cher and then wrenched his arm and threw him back a few yards away. Getting back on her feet as easily as Aadela did, Cher and Aadela came running towards each other. It almost ended in a chest-bang, but Aadela quickly removed her feet from the ground, twirled behind Cher and pushed him flat onto the ground. Having done that, she heaved herself upon him.

"One... Two... Three!" Aadela panted, "And the winner is Aadela Felix!" Aadela removed her legs from Cher's sides and held one arm in the air, shaking it and grinning around, as if an imaginary refree was declaring her a prize.

"Well done. Very, very well done." Cher smiled, looking more easy than Aadela. "But let me outline your mistakes too. You take a very sharp offensive turn, but your defense is not upto the mark. Simply, you did too many leg twists. It's okay while you're young, but as you become older, the chance of twisting your ankle or breaking it becomes highly probable. Also, you may lose your balance. Learn to get away without it. And your arms sag while trying to block... Keep your arm slanting, add pressure to your bisceps, and divert the support from your elbow and pressure from upper arm to the upper side of your lower arm and then fight. And always inversely coordinate your legs during defensive attack and vice-versa."

"Okay." Aadela nodded, climbing back upon the cumbersome hill at which they currently resided. It was Cher's idea to leave the spacious hill to take the slightly cramped flat land below for increased excersise.

"Then we're done for today."

* * *

**I'd given up writing here because of the lack of reviews... but then I thought, if I love to write, and if my material is being read, then what's the problem?**


	10. A break

Dear Diary,

It's been two-three years since I was blooded. I'm in human years 16 now, but otherwise only a few months old. Cher and I speak only about twice or thrice a day. I've adjusted to hunting now, and am a budding predator myself. I can very well fight with swords, plunge daggers, swing knives as easily as blowing and lifting feathers. I could fight even better than the best martial arts expert in the world (not tried out yet). If I went to apply as a curator for a museum, they would be taking me in delightfully, such was my knowledge about artifacts and history. I could sit silent, blank, upright for 12 hours constantly. In short, I am a highly trained apprentice/assistant now.

Cher helped me all through. He's an excellent predator himself - smooth, cunning, adept. My fighting skills were very vastly honed by him. Plus, he took it upon himself to question me my lessons (which I'd forgotten to be patient to since probably 5 years) and to help me on how to stay living even when no activity was around you. Vampirism isn't bad, but it isn't great either. I guard Cher throughout the day, and do the chores like cleaning, washing, cooking etc. and often I go about exploring the city we live in. Sometimes, I play games with kids my age, even though Cher gets mad about it and starts saying-  
"You might hurt them... they're weaker than you... you're not one of them." Blah-Blah-Blah. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it allows me to tease him more, but always I put off the matter.

Cher is a very strong vampire. He's till date one of the best the entire vampire world all over the Earth has seen. He's a Vampire General, and tours the world very frequently, and so is able to keep record of what all the vampire covens in the world are doing and what each vampaneze coven is also planning. He's a quite renowned personality in the vampire world and also the most diplomatic and probably the youngest to be so able. We frequently meet many vampires on our travels. Sometimes we talk, rarely travel together for sometime, other times a simple nod and greeting suffices. We saw the vampaneze also, but none were the ones whom I think could've killed my family.

Cher says I could become eventually far more stronger than him or any other vampire in the world. My powers, my speed, senses... everything. They're abnormally sharp even for a vampire, let alone half-vampire. Cher says that once when I become a full vampire, I might be something of an invincible one. Really, I sometimes laugh and sometimes am dead solemn about this. I could easily out do Cher in almost everything, and yet he could also out do me easily for he had the favour of vast experience. Everything around which my life revolves around now is what Cher says. Most of my sentences begin with "Cher says...". Anyway, _Cher says _that I'm a very typical vampire in many ways. When I'm angry or am experiencing a strong emotion, my look, my eyes - they change and resemble the looks of the vampires often mentioned in books, like the dangerous, more historic, I mean.

Also, he thinks he can imagine fangs when I'm in that mood. I laugh really badly then. But once during such a time, I looked in the mirror: Cher was right... I was inexplicably very happy then, and he turned out to be right.  
Cher thinks he knows the vampire pair whom Saiansh spotted are, but refuses to tell the names. I'm sick of arguing with him and willing him to tell me.

Besides, being with Cher for so long a time, it confuses me, bewilders me. I... well, I think I'm falling in love with him. Of course I know he's my cousin, and I will **_never_** violate our relationship status, but this is a love not like the one a lover would profess; it is the one which anyone will have for their greater friend... not best friend, but a greater friend. It's like being friend and then becoming friendlier... and of course, this love isn't the same you might have for your friend, best friend or family or relatives.

This is getting tedious and boring now and I'm going to stop.

AFadela


	11. Traveling

**I don't own anything, except Cher and Aadela and this story, so don't you dare to even think of getting your sweet mouth on my blood, Master Shan!**

**Thought I'd post this after completing 10 chapter mark... lol.**

* * *

"Let's get going, Ads!" Cher called out. Aadela swiftly covered the five yard distance between them, carrying a great deal of things with her: books, vials, medical cases, and stuff.

"Where are we headed?" Aadela asked as she easily straddled around Cher's back.

"Consider it a secondary vampire haven: every single vampire on this planet must have visited this place before." Aadela detected a smirk in Cher's voice.

"What?"

"It is a very typical place: The Cirque Du Freak. It must be passing your town into the next one, I guess. Did you hear any word?"

"When I was human... I do remember a word here or there, and me and my friends tried to see if it was true... went on nightly excursions, had ice cream from every single passing stall..." Aadela broke off. She mused silently, her lips etched crookedly upon her face, not in a smile, though.

Cher almost kicked himself when he heard Aadela take a shuddering sigh. He frowned for a minute, considering what ought to cheer her up. He was not willing to tell her the names of the vampires whom Saiansh has spotted; for he knew that Aadela would hate them and find them with all the malice, all the anger in her heart. She would not kill them, no, but unlucky would be the vampire and his assistant who came upon to incur Aadela's wrath, especially as Aadela's wits and talents would get her far in the vampire and human world alike. And yet Cher knew it will be both an apology and a methood of cheering her up.

"Aadela, I am sorry for hurting you. And will you forgive me if I tell you the names of the vampires whom Saiansh saw?" Cher asked subtley.

Aadela automatically looked up, startled and happy alike. She bent her head down to his.

"As if I don't want to know!"

"Well, they are Larten Crepsely and Darren Shan." Cher replied quietly. Even though the sentence was simple, it took a heck lot of a time to frame it well. The hesitation not to be mentioned. "Aadela, let me tell you, it wasn't their fault and it'll be very wrong if you take your anger off on them."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Cher..." Aadela drawled. "And why should I hurt them; am I a cuckoo? I'm not against humantiy, or _vampiriety_ or whatever..." Aadela ended on a firmer, yet still drawling note.  
Aadela surprised Cher by suddenly bursting out laughing... Cher strained ever muscle of his neck in suprise.

"I'm sorry!" Aadela replied lightly, after she had done with her giggling. "I just thought that these villains - I mean vampires," Aadela corrected quickly, "were something of Harry or James or, you know!"

"Enough of action movies for you, especially James Bond." Cher muttered, causing Aadela to giggle once or twice again.

"But how did you come to know about this?" Aadela inquired.

"Well, it's my job to know."

"But _how_?" Aadela insisted.

"When you're a Vampire General like me, you'll see too. You'll understand better once we arrive at Vampire Mountain. Ah! Here we are!"

Aadela slid off Cher, and what she saw both intrigued her, as well as made her smirk.

* * *

**REVIEWS ARE WHAT FOOD IS TO A HUMAN AND BLOOD TO A VAMPANEZE! DON'T STARVE ME!**

**BTW, something isn't right with this chapter and I know it. I couldn't make the revealing of names more dramatic, and the point is that most of the readers would have guessed that ultimately Darren would be involved in this point only, so sorry folks...**

**BTW, should I do a Cher's POV or just stick to Aadela's little diary entries? Do tell.**


	12. Cirque Du Freak

The first view of the Cirque was both intriguing and ridiculous. Aadela tried in vain to push the strands of her dark brown hair away from her face; the wind marred her vision. Aadela walked daintily up like a lady examining her new house, and took in further detail the view before her. The trapezium-like tents, all striped with a certain colour or white rose out to the sky with colourful flags gladly scanning the air, all inlayed with curious designs. Aadela thought the tents to be arranged in a rather hocus-pocus manner, but was surprised to discover all the tents arranged at a very respectable and comfortable distance away from others to form colonies.

There were proportioned and large enough patches of grass where the people (or rather freaks) grew little plants, flowers or just crops for the cooking use. There were also tents with a fine, black cloth which were outlined by a bit of silver cloth. _Those must be the tents for vampires and vampaneze, _Aadela thought. There were wide stone lanes through which four people all moving in a horizontal file could easily pass through. There were no disgusting smells, as the other hippy circuses always carried, but instead a faint smell of food cooking. The cirque _was _alive with chattering, laughing, grumbling, but nothing ever appeared disorganised. And behind all the other tents, rose a much higher tent or rather, a caravan. It looked too dignified to be called a cirque or circus - it could be the entourage of politicos on a more humble basis and routine.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Aadela turned back and smirked at Cher.

"Yes. Definitely sure." Cher replied, grinning, with his hands in his pockets.

"This is weird." Aadel turned again, frowning.

"I know, right? Too calm, too dignified. Come on, we've to move." Cher said, taking Aadela's arm and beginning to walk.

"The black tents must be for the vampires and vampaneze." Aadela questioned.

"No. Just the vampires." Cher smiled. "The cirque is constantly at move and even the humans are involved in its routines, so you can't have murders during the show premiers, right?" He fell silent, and then suddenly, he spoke in a low but harsh voice, "The cirque says it's a neutral body and yet it only has vampires! Hah!"

Aadela jumped at his voice. She looked at him, frowning. "I'm sorry, Del's. But we've to go visit the ringmaster now- Mr. Tall. I bet you'll find the name suitable to describe him."

"You bet." Aadela murmered. Very soon they were close to a big caravan. Cher knocked and a deep voice answered, "Come in."

_Alright, _Aadela thought upon following Cher, _Tall is understatement, _for the man before Aadela was huge. He had a square face, and it was pretty angular, adding much more depth to his face and making his black eyes seem even larger on his brown face. And yet the face was kind, and the voice was as deep as Aadela expected, and full of authority, firmness and kindness.

"Ah, Cher! Long time no meet." Mr. Tall greeted.

"Indeed, Mr. Tall. Is all well with the Cirque as usual?" Cher inquired, in his usual diplomatic avatar.

"As well as always. But tell me, what brings a very trusted envoy of the vampires to our humble dwellings?" Mr. Tall scratched his chin. Up until now, he had not even noticed Aadela, but now he suddenly turned to face her, his quickness startling Aadela for a while. "Though you must be here for the charming young half-vampire Aadela Felix, eh?"

Aadela jumped. She gawked at Mr. Tall, awed and intimidated at the same time. "How do you know my name?" she muttered.

"I know much more than names." Mr. Tall replied. Aadela looked confused and uncomfortable, so much so that Mr. Tall laughed. "I didn't mean to scare you; I'm a telepath."

Aadela eased slightly and smiled. Remembering her manners, she said, "Well, Good... uh, Morning?" the greeting came hesitant and more like a question, but Aadela grinned at Cher and all of them laughed.

"Seems like you've learnt much from your colleague-in-blood quickly."

"Oh, yes, she's a fast and avid learner." Cher replied, almost absent-mindedly.

Aadela looked everywhere but at the two men in the room, although she was pleased by Cher's remark.

"Oh well, anyway, we need to be here for sometime. Aadela needs a definite home while I flit to and fro. Is there atleast one vacancy?" Cher asked, frowning.

"There are always vacancies at the Cique," Mr. Tall replied austerely. "So tell me, Aadela, are you in anyway, _unique_?"

The question threw Aadela for a moment. Aadela tried very hard, successfully, not to look at Cher to avoid displaying a presence of doubt (she learnt it all from the vampire logic sermons Cher used to give - very lovingly, to Aadela, as it seemed) but managed to see from the corner of her eyes that Cher frowned a bit more harder, but didn't look worried.

"Well, I'll happily act as a mutual assistant to all here. Or I'll come up with something better in the near future." That was the safest reply Aadela could think of.

"You seem to come from a corporate background." Mr. Tall chuckled. Aadela began looking a bit uneasy, but then Mr. Tall added, "I'll get someone to show you around. In the meantime, Cher, it's a long time since I last chatted with you. Sit down."


	13. A day at the Cirque

It was a rather windy day, and Aadela stepped out from her small but cozy after a warm and long night's rest, and the cool wind felt lovely on her cheeks. She stepped outside, with a strange feeling of exhileration.

Aadela saw the Cirque already up and about, bustling with energy. She walked around the Cirque, feeling pleased that nobody even cared to glance towards her. A lovely smell - smell of frying of bacons and sausages - wafted up her nostrils and she found herself following the scent to a small clearing. People were sitting on either sides, and Aadela came to an awkward halt. There was chattering of people, clanking of cutlery, tip-tap of running water and sizzling of frying food.

"New here?" Someone tapped Aadela on her shoulder. She twirled as slowly - well, slowly for a half-vampire - as possible to see the speaker. Aadela's initial reaction was shock. She found herself facing a snake... a boy... or a snake-boy, rather. He was covered in green, yellow and blue scales, and what increased her shock was that this was his skin, not just a pantomime costume. His hair were yellow, like some of his scales. He was wearing only shorts, and his expression, his features, were pretty much like that of a boy.

"Don't they always look so _freaked _out?" the boy - snake-boy - grinned. "I'm Evra Von."

Aadela snapped her mouth shut and looked apologetically at Evra. "Oh, I, uh, I'm sorry. I - I, I didn't mean to be, eh, rude."

"Don't worry! They don't call me a freak for not scaring the living daylights out of you." Evra grinned, though he began scratching his chin thoughtfully. "But you didn't seem _so _disturbed."

"Oh, it takes some time to practise." Aadela grinned back. "Besides, I've been inhaling the scent of hosts who were dull, boring and practically believed it an offence to show any emotion, especially shock." Evra raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Oh, I'm Aadela Felix!" Aadela held out her hand. She changed the topic because she didn't know as of yet what the regular reaction of freaks here are to a half-vampire. "And you're Evra Von what?"

"Just plain Von." Evra replied, smilingly, as if this was some old joke. "So, you hungry?"

Aadela nodded: she was starving. And the delicious smell coming from the clearing was not helping much either.

"Come, then." Evra grinned back at her and made a gesture as if to follow him. Aadela's grin widened, and she hurriedly shortened it; she felt like an idiot when that happened. She knew that people very easily talked to her and became her friends, but the grin always came up, and it was inexplicable and unnecessary. He finally stopped somewhere in the clearing, over a beautiful woman who was frying sausages. And then, he mumbled to Aadela's surprise something which sounded like a seal barking.

Evra looked up to her, beaming. "Truska asks me who my fair companion is." Evra spoke, as he gestured to the woman. The woman smiled at Aadela, and Aadela returned the smile. She held out a sausage to Aadela on a fork. Aadela took the fork and blowed well at the sausage before eating it. Even though it was straight from the stove and burning hot, to Aadela it was merely hot enough to eat. Aadela gulped at the sausage and licked her lips.

"That was nice. But, I need a breakfast now." Aadela smiled a little hesitantly.

Evra chuckled and very soon Aadela was sitting comfortably with Evra, chatting with him as if she'd known him for many weeks, and enjoying her simple but delicious meal all the while. There were sausages, of course, and some grilled potatoes, an omlette and a tin of mixed fruits in it. When they'd finished their meal, Aadela was eager to go and meet the other freaks.

"You'll definitely be left surprised," Evra said as they stood up.

Now that most people's meals were over, there was an intense washing going on. There were more people out in the meadows than in the gathering. But Evra seemed to lead them one by one to meet each freak.

There was Cormac Limbs, Hans Hands, the Twisting Twins, Alexander Ribs, the man who could like almost eat anything, Gertha Teeth and much, much more. And the good part was that all of them seemed to like Aadela the instant they saw her.

Early afternoon, Aadela had been in to see Evra's snake. She'd disguised her horror and fear well, but much as Evra tried to persuade her to, she hadn't been able to stroke the snake or put it around her neck. She was sitting with Evra in the bleak sunglight, when she saw Mr. Tall approach. She was astonished by the large and quick steps he took.

"Well, Ms. Felix, how do you do today?" He asked jovially.

"I'm fine, thanks. And you?"

"Oh, I'm as good as always. Now as you're going to be a part of the Cirque, maybe you wouldn't mind helping us?" Mr. Tall more stated than asked as he opened a large writing pad.

"Oh, yeah, definitely, of course!" Aadela replied with much enthusiasm.

"That's what I like to hear. Now, have you cooked for 30-40 people at a time?"

"Well, no. But I do know a good deal about cooking and maybe it will only take practice before I master this also? Actually, I've been like a upper crust teen..." Aadela bit her lip and trailed off at the over-enthusiasm with which she'd answered. Though Mr. Tall and Evra pretended not to notice, they would've been blind and deaf not to do so.

"Well, we'll see about that later. Can you sew and stitch?"

"Not more than doing skip-knots, sewing buttons, hemming and putting patches of cloth on other clothes."

"Have you washed clothes before by hand?"

"No."

"Hurm..." Mr. Tall flicked a bit more through his pad then snapped it shut. "Okay, now what we can do is -"

"Oh, you know what? Even though I don't have any special talent, but what I can do is this: I will be like breaking strong things and running very fast, and I'll call upon any volunteer from the audience from the stage so that they could experience the same. The only glitch would be that it'll be actually _me _doing it, not them. I'll pass this off as some mental energy building up kind of thing," Aadela smiled uncertainly. Cher had told her of the daily life in Cirque, and even though she was pretty good at almost whatever Mr. Tall offered, she wasn't happy at doing any of these things (maybe because of her upbringing) so she'd thought all over the previous night about what she could do.

Mr. Tall and Evra - both looked confused. Mr. Tall stared intently at Aadela and then asked, "And how will you manage to do this?". There was a long pause, Mr. Tall still stared at Aadela and Evra became a little more confused each passing second. Then suddenly Mr. Tall gave a large sigh and said, "Oh yes, of course. Well, practise for a week before I see how well you'll be able to pull it off. And until then, you're a helper to all the people in the Cirque. Good day!" And smiling, her left.

Aadela looked back at Evra. "What?"

"How're you going to do it?" Evra asked. "It sounds too difficult and complex!"

Aadela chuckled. "You don't know what I'm capable of!"

"Oh, really? Anyway, let's see what you're capable of; we're going to milk my snake!" Evra grinned wickedly.

"Well, I'm not capable of that." Aadela said simply.

"Haha!"

"I didn't say that I'm capable of everything. I said that you don't know what I'm capable of. Sort of different." Aadela continued to smile austerely.

* * *

Aadela was sitting in her tent when Mr. Tall popped in his head, and gravely said, "Your colleague in blood wants you." and left.

Aadela jumped up happily and ran from her tent to the dark tent she knew belonged to Cher. She paused a second outside, and Cher called out, "Come in!"

She went inside and beamed probably a little too brightly at Cher and he gestured her, smiling slightly, to a nearby chair. She looked at him expectantly.

"Well, so how was your day?" he casually asked, reading a book.

Aadela was about to answer, when she saw Cher's expression. "It is generally considered impolite, if you talk to someone but keep looking somewhere else, even more so, at a book." she replied, sternly.

"Generally," Cher chuckled, but Aadela didn't join him in his laughter. She glared at him, till he finally threw his arms in the air and kept the book on a mahogany desk. "Fine! Well, may I be honoured enough to ask the fair Mistress Aadela, to enlighten me about how well her day went?"

"Yes, it was great." Aadela replied calmly.

"And you made friends?"

"And I made friends."

"Anyone in particular?" Cher asked, his expression not betraying anything.

"What do you mean?" Aadela asked, feigning confusion really well.

"You know what I mean." Cher still didn't smile or titter.

"Why the hell are you hecked up about my love life?" Aadela exclaimed, frustrated. "And even so, it'll be difficult for a half-vampire and human!"

"Oh, you needn't worry about that! We've many male vampires and half-vampires." Cher replied, beginning to snigger.

"Puh-lease." Aadela gestured as if she was bored, "I don't want scarred people - vampires - whose expressions are as hard to make out as it is for a mortal to become immortal."

"Oh, yeah?" Cher challenged.

"Yeah, "yeah"!" Aadela snapped, suddenly desperate to just march out of his tent.

"Well, we do have some ladies also."

"Keep them to yourself, you bi-slut." Aadela pondered in her head why the friendly atmosphere had so drastically changed into an insulting one. She suddenly felt like if she spoke another word she would burst out crying. And she knew why this was happening - the fact was, that she needed a gesture of affection now, a gesture of family affection. She was homesick and lonely, and cousinly affection wouldn't be enough to even keep the edge of the loneliness away.

"Well, what about Evra? I saw you both had become good friends." Cher replied, this time answering much more solemnly and caringly and dropping his teasing tone.

That was it. Aadela was in no mood to see Cher for a month (yes, a month is very small to a vampire, probably like what to a human is a day). She was so ready to cry that she burst out of his tent in tears. Cher grasped her arm smoothly and gently, but firmly, held her arms. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I keep forgetting what it's like to be a half-vampire after being so recently blooded."

Aadela stared back into his black eyes. Aadela could see how arresting they were: they were young, but foretold a great maturity. Her eyes still wet, but not shedding tears, she stared back into them, piqued. His eyes were now clouded with apology and concern. Aadela broke away from his grasp before she could get more befuddled and then walked out of the tent without looking back at him, saying, "Well, then start remembering."

* * *

**Aadela seems sad, doesn't she? Well, it was the best I could think for over like 5 days at a stretch, and this chapter is the result of the careful compilation of my ideas. I wanted it to be ending with cirque folks going "what?" (I think you're able enough to guess why) but here I have for you a melancholy ending. Ah! Sorry for that painful 2k words for nothing.**


	14. Confusions

It was a week later that things finally began to get more than exciting. Aadela had continued her brief lessons with Cher, which included both vampirism and normal lore, and had remained as unbending as the bark of a tree, speaking only when necessary. Their meetings were started by a warm greeting from Cher and a brisk and stiff one from Aadela. Cher, being a good teacher (which was something Aadela hadn't expected), used to cover larger spans of knowledge than mentioned in the books, but Aadela's interest was cold.

She had shown to Mr. Tall about what she had suggested she could do by exploiting a bit her new abilities, and he'd seemed satisfied, if not very pleased. Perhaps he doesn't like cheating the people, Aadela pondered, but this is not exactly cheating now, is it? She'd turned like a mutual helper to every single person in the Cirque, and was fast making friends after friends. Evra was her staunch friend up till now.

Then one day, when she was wiping the dishes after breakfast, Mr. Tall warily approached Aadela. Aadela swung around, anxiety thundering all over her.  
"Aadela, I think it's time to tell the Cirque the truth about yourself."

Aadela dropped the dishes she was wiping. She very nearly broke them, but caught every single one of them almost completely on her index finger, a mere half an inch from the ground. She placed the dishes aside quickly and gracefully. It seemed like she was doing a curtesy. But Aadela raised herself, taking a voluminous gulp. She wasn't afraid of telling the people about her - ah - "abnormality", but she was afraid of their response. Certainly, they would fear her, be terrifed of her, loathe her, and oh, so much more...

"Aadela," Mr. Tall began, when he saw the frightened look on the girl's face, which made her young face look even younger and vulnerable, "The Cirque has more than enough taste of vampires or even half ones, for that matter. And I've seen how you've made yourself a good friend to each one of them. They won't even pay attention to it, honestly." He said, kindly.

Aadela looked at him, and managed another gulp. She gave a brisk nod, and spoke. "Well, how are you going to tell them? I mean, like a ritual of sorts... or what?"

Mr. Tall managed not to smile. "Just follow me."

* * *

"Phew!" Aadela wiped the sweat off her brow as she lifted a beam of iron, on which either side were balanced an enormous, full to the brink water buckets. She had to run around the hill nearby at least four times. And that was not all! She had to recite off her cultural course about Italy, and mention many _important _facts about pizzas, which infuriated her so much so that she nearly stamped on the slice of pizza which Cher offered to her, obviously to taunt her.

"And why the heck am I being made to do this?" Aadela managed to pant the final, unthinkably blissful time, when she'd returned from her run.

"To build your stamina, of course, miss." Cher replied.

"For world war 3?" Aadela asked, irritated.

"No. For something far much important and predictable." Cher frowned as he replied, and his tone got heavy with anxiety. Aadela didn't decide to ask more. She was still fuming about what happened at Cher's tent a week ago, and was too extrovert and busy these days to solve Cher's riddles.

"Aadela!" came a cry. Evra. Cursing his imperfect timing, Aadela had to cover her ears a bit as Evra's shout came too loud for her liking. "What?" Aadela had to scream back - they were a mile or so away from the Cirque.

"You've to come and help us out!" Evra's shout came a little breathy this time, surely from the strain of having to shout so loud. Aadela glanced sideways at Cher, who merely shrugged and arranged himself from the rock upon which he'd been perching about. "Want a lift?" he asked.

"No. I'll manage." Aadela replied coolly. Even though she was still clearly very exhausted, she thought that the continuous brutal training of hers could now be put to use. Besides, she didn't want to talk to Cher still. Without another glance, Cher flitted back, and Aadela could vaguely make out a fleeting outline against the horizon. Sighing, Aadela got ready for her own run.

Before she knew what was happening, Aadela found herself collapsed in a heap upon the ground, panting heavily, with Evra shaking her gently. "What happened, Aadela?" But Aadela could barely managed to open her eyes, let alone answer back. She was feeling so weak... and as she began to come back into the present, she began to feel so... _thirsty_. And even though she knew which could be an ideal, er, meal, she couldn't just resist the thought of her increasing hunger. And how long had it been since she had last had her meal? A month, she thought, broodingly... But she sifted away from the thought: it made her all the more hungry.

She tried to move herself away from Evra, to shift him away, but she found she was useless and exhausted. Aadela was so desperate that at last, she looked up into Evra's face, and he jumped back, consumed with shock: Aadela's dark blue were becoming darker and almost mixing into a black colour, and the whites of her eyes were red with strain.

"What?" she snapped. She didn't like the look on Evra's face, but it was a sign that she'd succeeded in warning him. She now took upon a strangely calm tone, to keep the fear intact yet in check. "Leave me, Evra. Go and tell Cher to keep a bottle or so ready. Go." Without even a blink, Evra scurried away. Aadela took in a deep breath, and tried to block her vampire senses. She got up awkwardly and tramped heavily but quickly through the Cirque to the black tent she knew was Cher's.

Cher turned around and handed a vial full of rich, dark blood to Aadela wordlessly, who snatched it from him. Aadela emptied the vial in one single gulp and took another one, which met the same fate as the previous one. Aadela then sipped halfway through a third one that Cher handed out to her and finally satisfied, she gave the vial back to him and wiped her mouth. Cher turned his back to Aadela as she muttered an emotional thanks and began rearranging his bottles.

"You are too stubborn. You should've had enough sense to ride on my back way back." Cher responded to her "thanks", his voice very taut. Aadela blinked, but then looked out of the tent. The first few times the hunts had disgusted her, but then hunger and sense had taken over her. Besides, she'd had her revenge to take, a fact which Cher used frequently to motivate and energize her. But Aadela had thought of herself a much more respected vampire, if she could actually work out a diet plan for herself. Like what if she could manage to feed only once two months, but not at the cost of extreme hunger? She was certainly working hard towards it. Of course, there had been slips when she'd become too hungry, but the current slip was a major one... the thought that Evra would never speak to her again made her eyes a little moist.

She'd become a good hunter and could feed herself despite the absense of the anaesthisia like gas which full vampires possessed. She would either surprise the hell out of her targets, or just slam those chemicals which made people faint in people's faces or just take a syringe and glass when they were in hotels, or cities or something like that. Still, she used to go out with Cher more often.

"Mr. Tall was calling me. Thanks again, Cher." Aadela whispered and walked out, blankly.

She walked to Mr. Tall's caravan and saw him standing by it, looking out as if there was someone coming. Evra wasn't there, Aadela thought with mingled feelings of relief and despair.

"Are you alright now, Ms. Felix?" Mr. Tall asked her upon catching sight of her. Aadela instinctively bent her head down in shame.

"Yes. And I'm sorry."

"No blood lost, no foul done. Though you might want to be more careful around Evra now." Mr. Tall shrugged. "Anyway, we're having some guests come over. Would you mind helping them around the Cirque?"

"No, of course not."

"Then all we do is wait for the time being."

They waited for quite some time. Perhaps 15-20 minutes. And all the while Aadela came up with 100, albeit stupid knacks to be friends with Evra again. Finally, as she let out a sigh of exasperation at her own lame thoughts, Mr. Tall stepped forward and said, "They've come."

Instantly, there appeared a horrendously ugly vampire and his young half-vampire assistant. Aadela almost let out a sharp gasp of surprise when she saw the boy was about her age only - 16. He was a million times better looking than his colleague in blood and Aadela found herself drawn to him. It was as if, Aadela thought, that both of them had something in common besides their age, yet there was a twist. And he was pretty good looking too, Aadela mused. And smart, Aadela thought with her strong intuition. She shifted her gaze to his colleague in blood and stifled a gasp full of shock: there was something about his injury on his face, something about his hair colour and the way they were placed on his head, his face cut... something about him entirely that made Aadela think she'd seen him and sent an icy vibe down her spine.

Pushing the thoughts hastily aside, she turned her attention to the boy and flashed him a small, but friendly and warm smile. The boy smiled back at her and she looked at Mr. Tall shaking his hands with the full vampire. "Larten!" He greeted.

And then Aadela remembered: the vampire whom Saiansh had seen... of course! This was Larten Crepsely and Darren Shan. Her mind recoiled and her face became hard and cold. Her eyes began flickering with an icy rage very frightening.

"Aadela, this is Mr. Larten Crepsely and his assistant Darren Shan." Mr. Tall said as if Aadela already didn't know. Larten Crepsely nodded in greeting and smiled, which made him look like a monstrous spider. Darren Shan extended his hand forward. Aadela couldn't help it: she just glared at him, and the boy, who was responding to Aadela's intial friendliness, withdrew his hand with a shrug, and looked away, a bit embarrassed and highly confused.

Mr. Tall did sense that awkward moment. "Now, Aadela, will you escort these people to their tents?"

Aadela turned at her heels and looked him full in the face. "Why should I?" she hissed venemously. "Why should I, when if I or anyother person hadn't seen them, they wouldn't have the misfortune of being an orphan? I'm not going to escort them anywhere. Besides, they're not lame or challenged; however challenged they might be to curse someone's fate." Aadela turned around pointedly to give the newcomers an ugly smirk.

"You shall do as I say, take them to their tents." Mr. Tall repeated, with a hint of a severity which ought not be displeased.

Aadela turned around again, this time facing all three of them and making sharp eye-contact. "Why should I offer them a service, Mr. Tall, when they offered me a life of a vagabond? No, Mr. Tall, I stand by my words." she whispered now, getting the venom out of her voice and face, only to replace it by grief and coldness. But then, her voice turned ravenous with rage again, as she muttered. "Watch me."

Saying so, Aadela marched down to her tent, hands curled up in fists, and eyes travelling in every direction. The sad and confused girl left the scene, cursing her fate, the newcomers and herself for the injustice she'd dealt. But for now, that defeated girl could only think of Saiansh relating his tale, so cruelly real that she spun around in her tent expecting him behind her back... And of her parents, baricading themselves against something they were both wrong and right about, and Aadela was stupid about... Very wise and very correct was the person who said that half-knowledge should not be revelled in... it would be better to be ignorant than be only in half light about the truth. Or the lie. Or logic. Or, life...

* * *

**So finally we meet the great Darren Shan... Rather, Aadela meets. Anyway, I don't know if Master Shan is good looking or not, but I want him to be, so excuse me for a pinch of OOCness.**

**REVIEW.**


	15. Making peace

Aadela couldn't do much more than sit down. She knew her rage was one dimensional, yet well deserved. She sat down away from the camp; she couldn't bear to be near any company, howsoever tempting. Aadela had never been ashamed of letting other people know her feelings, and neither was she awkward with showing them, besides the general reserve every one in this world had. Yes, Aadela didn't hide her tears up, but she also refrained from crying very badly in front of others. The person in front of whom she might've cried the most could be Saiansh... then her parents, and then nobody.

Yes, Aadela had behaved a bit stupidly in grief and shock, but even so, it would be incorrect to call her stupid or wrong. She deserved anything to the smallest flicker of the flame of anger and desire for revenge. And today, Aadela was crying much badly than she'd ever in her life. Tears gushed as if thousands of rivers broke their damns at the same time. Such was the strength of her passion, that she couldn't remain sitting crosslegged on the ground: her seizures cramped up her whole body, and pressed it hard against the bare rocks. It was surprisingly painful, but it was a small mercy in these masochistic moments, moments which stretched on for hours.

Aadela had made a promise to herself: this pitiful existence was only till the time she tracked the 'butchers' down and slaughtered them, far more brutally than they'd killed her family. And this night only made her more determined in the second part of the oath, that after she'd done away with the three vampaneze, she would kill and relieve herself from this bloody life. Yes, that would be it. She wouldn't be a weapon to kill other people because of her own grieving, but will end her life when the pleasure of revenge begins to fade out to the future.

For the first time in her entire life, Aadela cried herself to sleep.

* * *

"She's still far too weak." a voice piped up. If voices could sound ugly, this one surely did.

"She's strong, though, for an assistant of her age." a more familiar voice mused.

"Well, not strong enough to give me a scratch, though I can't explain how frenzied people - and vampires - can behave when they're driven by rage or madness." the first voice played up again... it was too dry. "Well, if I were you I would keep giving her a sip every one hour or so, that is if I want to get such a creature to survive."

"I asked you for your advice only, not for your opinion. I'd rather go to devil to hear its curses than to listen to your dry and pessimistic comments about everyone." The second voice, familiar and really soothing, tensed up, and skimmed quickly after a slight sigh. "I'm sorry; it's just that I love my assistant very much... she's my second cousin, after all. And the only family I myself have left. Thanks once again for your help."

Footsteps thudded away. The possessor of the second voice could be heard shifting slightly and then he bent over, to whisper. "Wake up, Ads. You've been sleeping so soundly, that I wonder why I'm prancing about at nine in the human morning."

Aadela's eyes instinctively flickered open. Everything was surreal and her body and hair all felt damp from sweat. Someone kissed her forehead and stroked her hair. It was a long time since someone had treated her so affectionately. Tears sloped down her face, and someone gently wiped them. Someone kissed her again.

"I'm here, now, don't worry. If you want to leave the Cirque, if you want to talk to someone, just tell me, cousin. I'm here." She could see Cher smiling... but it was a very blurred image.

"Just... leave me alone." Aadela croaked and shifted to her side.

"No, I'm not leaving you alone." Cher replied firmly. "I'll be here by your side. Besides, someone's here to meet you." As he finished speaking, someone else came into the tent.

"Hi, Aadela." Whosoever it was spoke as if they were embarrassed. Aadela didn't dare to make a wrong guess in recognising the voice. "Whatever happened, a day ago, I'm fne with it, if you still think I'm scared from you. Yes, I was petrified and a part of me would always remain so, but that doesn't mean I don't want to be your friend, I-"

"Okay, that's alright, Evra. She understood what you meant. We can't pressurise her too much for now, but she'll talk to you surely when she's all well. Go, now." Cher broke in. Aadela could hear the second pair of footsteps vanishing away.

* * *

After that, Aadela only had a faint memory of what happened when she fell ill. She remembered bits and peices of it, but didn't pursue it further. These was one of the moments when she could've tortured herself to hell. One out of three.

Cher didn't talk much about it too, after a few days, and resorted only to a more kinder version of behaving than before, reason being that he didn't want to make Aadela to feel bad that he's changing himself because of her.

Aadela remained more or less silent, and did everything correctly, albeit with a vacant mind. She merely smiled in the slightest when Evra tried to make conversation with her (which was, pretty less often, quite opposite to what he'd said before when she was ill) and did her best not to draw attention from anyone else. There was a slight but constant frown on her face and an otherworldly efficiency in her tasks.

One day, as she sat plucking the weeds idly, Aadela saw two people chatting merrily _and _cleaning the Wolf Man's cage. Usually, the people who're assigned to this duty don't normally include merry conversation in to the chore, due to the disgust generated in the job, but seeing this, a tiny ghost of Aadela's curiosity returned, and she found herself venturing up to them, and to ask them if they needed help in a surprising moment of generosity.

It was only when she reached there did she realise that the two people at the cage were Evra and that new boy, what was name? Ah yes, Darren Shan. Her face became taut, but she didn't recede - perhaps she was morphing back into her original state, mainly because it would make things all the more awkward and obvious. She sensed Evra go still for a bit, and he asked her in a tight voice. "Aadela, how are you? We, uh, we - Darren and I - are cleaning the Wolf. I mean, the Wolf Man's cage!" he gave an awkward grin.

Aadela looked at him a bit too coolly for the grin. "I'm fine. You folks need help?" but before they could ask, she picked up a spade and began throwing the residue out. Evra lingered closer to Darren, which made Aadela think whether he was still afraid of her or wanted to be at a close enough range to draw Darren back if something unfortunate happened.  
"You're Darren?" Aadela asked, her eyelids hooding her eyes.

"Urm... yeah. Hi. Pleased to meet you." The boy - Darren - spoke hesitantly. No doubt about the reason he spoke like that.

"Well, truth be told," and now Aadela levelled her eyes with his, and her expression remained very cool and calm, "I'm not pleased to meet you. I'm Aadela Felix, by the way."  
Silence. No one could break the tension. Aadela spanked her spade hard once or twice onto the floor of the cage and threw it to Darren.

"Here you go. And Darren, try to forget the first time we met." Aadela spoke, both her voice and expression hard and walked away. She had made her peace... for now. She knew that soon enough, one or the other of them would begin discussing the topic. But there was enough peace for now. Yes, only for now.


	16. Revelations

"Why do you hate me?" Aadela swung around, surprised. Yes, she'd pictured him asking that very question again and again in her mind, but never so without beating the bush or like drawing her aside. She couldn't have felt more surprised if he'd shouted at her right in front of everybody for something she had or had not done. There he was, that boy who probably was just like her in many ways.

"Why do I hate you?" Aadela sighed and looked at him fully in the face. It was a few weeks after she'd talked to him at the Wolf Man's cage. They'd obviously been bound into many chores together many a times, and either Aadela had given him a cold shoulder, or she'd thrown in sarcasm in glacial tones. "Well, let's begin with the fact that unlike you, I had to watch my family die.  
You see, when I was humanly normal, I had everything - friends, family, wealth, you name it. But the thing was that my family believed in the vampire kindred, and had sidejobs as vampire hunters. And I was the only one who disbelieved them, and to think that I follow vampirism now. Ironic, huh? Anyway, my brother, also a vampire hunting enthusiast, went out to search for vampires, and what did he find? Well, he found you and your mentor, Creepy Crepsley! He came back home petrified, but decided to pursue you two anyway. He found the vampaneze this time at the very same place - mind you, the place wasn't one which he frequented a lot - and eavesdropped their conversations, thinking that it'll lead them to _you._

And they realised that they were being spied upon. So they followed my brother home, and even though they were well fed, they sucked him and my parents dry RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! And they kept me aside, called me 'sugar' and all sorts of endearments, and probably would've even had their way with me, if my dear cousin who's now my mentor - ah yes, a vampire was living pretty close to me, that too he was my cousin, and still I didn't believe in vampires and neither did my family find out - hadn't intervened and rescued me.  
SO ALL OF THIS MIGHT NOT HAVE OCCURED HAD YOU AND YOUR THRICE ACCURSED BASTARD OF A MENTOR HADN'T BEEN SPOTTED BY MY BROTHER!" Aadela screamed, and this time no tears came out, which made her all the more intimididating in her fury. "Are you satisfied with the answer I gave you, Shan?"

There was utter silence. Darren kept looking at his feet, his face hidden while Aadela fidgeted and shook violently, and wiped her face with her hand or clutch her hair. She looked towards the horizon, and in a quivering, bitter but calmer voice began speaking, "I know that my anger is one-dimensional, unnecessary and all that, but no one can say that I can't be angry or am stupid to be angry. Can you look in my eyes and say that if we'd switched places you would behave someone closer to an adult or a rational person? No, Darren, no. And to think, that if you hadn't been seen that day, I wouldn't be screaming hysterically at someone who had not done any wrong, yet made me go sick with bitterness and rage. To think, that if you could've delayed your ramble for a day, then I'll be still the perfect Ms. Felix?" Aadela panted. "Of course, my own brother need not have gone too, but did you have a full-fledged reason to have a walk that day, Darren, unlike my brother with his humanly abnormal compulsions?"

Another silence. No one could trust themselves to speak.

"I'm sorry, Aadela, for being indirectly responsible for your losses. And I understand why you need to be angry at me - and I think I partly deserve it. And please do not think that I'm saying all this for the sake of formality, I'm genuinely sorry. I've had my share of loss too, but it would not be for me to tell you about them nor would it be to compare our losses." Darren spoke so sincerely that even Aadela looked at him. Yes, she could feel it, what he said was true. She shrugged bitterly, small tears gathering around her eyes. A shrug which was for everything what Darren had said.

"You can try me." Aadela said. The shrug was also meant to tell Darren that she wanted to and deserved to listen to his own saga.

Darren looked at her thoughtfully. Aadela felt his discomfort and his lack of words which arised from many other things, but she would hear his tale now. "Very well. I too, was pretty much a perfect kid like you. I'd had this one best friend, and we were the closest male friends one would ever find. One day, we went to the Cirque du Freak which was in our town, and there we discovered Mr. Crepseley as a vampire. This best friend of mine was obsessed with becoming a vampire and I was obsessed with spiders - particularly Madam Octa. I stole Octa and when once I was playing with her for my friend's amusement, she bit him. She is a very, very poisonous spider. I knew then that the only person who could cure my friend was Larten Crepseley. I went upto him, and he promised me his antidote in exchange for my humanity.

I couldn't take it in me to refuse. I returned to my family, however, after being blooded and after my friend's recovery, but things very nearly slipped and I had to take my role as a vampire's assistant. And to make sure that I'd severed all living bonds from my family, I had to fake my own death. While I can't understand how it must be to have your family killed in front of you, Aadela, but I'm sure you can't imagine how it must be to see your family cry for you. My friend, he discovered that I still lived and was a half-vampire now. He thought that I'd purposely made Crepseley favour me over him into making me a vampire and he swore revenge as a vampire hunter. I don't know if you've ever felt ungraciousness in such a large amount, Aadela. To think that I willingly gave my own blood - my family, over him just to have him be ready to kill me when he grows up? To think that even I could've had it all, had I just refused this bloody deal! But no, Aadela... no."

Darren abruptly stopped. It was Aadela's turn this time to look at the ground, baffled and slightly ashamed. Their eyes met at one fateful second, and both of them realised that both had a basic story, with different interpretations. Both had lost one thing but in two different ways. And Aadela's bloody picture couldn't make her story more pathetic than Darren's wounds of betrayal or vise-versa. For where Aadela's grief could be described as a bloodbath and torture, Darren's grief could be only summed up into a word as insignificant as ungratefulness. Darren's loss was surely great, but in a simpler way than Aadela's and these were the differences which made the magnitude of their sorrows and losses equal.

The two young people looked at each other intently through tearful eyes and pained expressions and seemed to read each other's mind and heart and soul. And that's when they finally realised - they could be friends and were actually meant to be friends. And both of them felt as if the day had culminated into a sob or two and bear hugs from a person who could actually understand his or her grief, could actually place both empathy and sympathy for each other. Yes, they were friends.

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**I though that completing one chapter in one day and uploading it the same day was impossible. Guess I've to alter my views. By the way, folks, do you think the story's name is fine or do you want it to be a bit different? If yes, you want it different, then review and send in your suggestions along with your reviews.**

**BUT NEVER FORGE TO REVIEW.**


	17. Uncertainty

Dear Diary,

Life could've turned out much more nicely or badly. It might've been nice if I'd died that night - no sufferings and outbursts. It could've been worse - may be I was forced to become a vampaneze and live the life of a vermin. I'm very thankful that whatever small mercy has been thrown my way, it still holds certain value, for mercies are mercies. It's been ages probably, since I last wrote in you, but I feel it more of a treat to write in you after a long time. Things are more confusing for me, now that I'm surrounded by company and new experiences. I don't want to be definite about anything (I think you may know the reason why) so I'll start much of what I want to say with "I think".

Well, I think that I've some friends now - friends who may probably be there for me for a long time. I don't want to write their names, for fear that if some crack appears in these delicate relationships, I'll not be able to mend it, and do nothing more than be dismayed when I read these diary entries after a very long time. I don't think that still Cher understands me completely. Now, I know I'm sounding a bit like an ungrateful wretch, but I don't think that this is far from the truth. Cher does know when I'm hungry, when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm angry, but he fails to explore the depths of it, and fails to see why such-and-such a thing is happening.

I like Cher, and in an unfamiliar and strange way, also love him, but an intense person can't usually calculate another intense person. Would he be so horrible if he was more open to me that I would shrink away in fear? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe what I'm feeling is just a passe, and so is my "intensity". Now, I know that's not the way to write or think about a person who gave you a new life. And I'm not being ungrateful. Merely pointing out that I would dearly love to know Cher better. And recently, he's become much more friendlier and nicer to me than even before. Way to go!

If I'd my family right now, I would've discussed with Saiansh as his friend and sister about the children besides us, unbiased and openly. With my mother, I would definitely show a keener sense of privacy and intimacy, but would've talked to her about friendships and commitments. With my father... well, we would summarise a day in school by giving a fun but detailed report on any given kid that father would want to hear about, or maybe about myself, and those could be really intimate moments sometimes. And with my friends... well, the things one discusses with friends are universally known, aren't they?

Currently, I'm engrossed in The Diary Of A Young Girl: Anne Frank. It's a very interesting record, and one may think that I'm having many of "phases" similar to Anne. In a way, both of us can be called similar. I hope that this period passes by soon, and I become well all again... well enough to remember why I still live.

AFadela


	18. A goodbye

**Author's Note: I'd gone for a 3 week long vacation, so sorrry for no updates, folks :D**

* * *

Aadela couldn't believe it: someone was leaving her again. How could that be? She could stop him physically this time, unlike one time two years before, but that was not a subject in which she could get involved.

"When will you be coming back?" she asked sullenly. She knew she sounded like her 7-year-old self, but she also knew that being so could melt his heart slightly. Slightly, but unfortunately, not enough.

"I don't know, Aadela." Darren replied. He stared at her, equally disturbed, but also worrying about what her reaction would be. There was a long pause, and Aadela looked away bitterly.  
"You know I don't want to! But it's Larten Crepsely we're talking about!"

"I know, I know!" Aadela threw her hands in the air, hysterically. "I know! I know! But I don't want a friend of mine to leave me, not to say that dragging you along like that for an unknown time is something which I don't think would be an excursion! 'This is Larten Crepsely we're talking about!'" Aadela quoted Darren albeit not sarcastically.

"You're my friend too! I've made myself another friend, Aadela! And when I come back, I swear that I'll deepen our friendship from my side. May rats knaw my eyes out if I'm lying." Darren said this last sentence involuntarily.

Aadela chuckled. "I believe you, Shan. You need not be more convincing than usual, especially not _this _convincing!"

Darren shrugged. "It's an old habit of mine." Another pause. Sometimes Aadela thought that their conversation was marked by more pauses than spoken dialogues.

"Is Evra going along with you?"

"Yes."

"I'll miss him too."

"You should tell him that."

"I've told him that."

"Well, then, I suppose, goodbye, Aadela Felix." Darren shrugged and reached out his hand.

"Goodbye, Master Shan." Aadela smirked and connected her hand with Darren's not with a clapping sound. "I really want to know who gave you that name!"

"Larten Crepsely."

"Ah, Larten Crepsely, of course! I should've known." _Creepy Crepsely is more like it_, Aadela thought to herself. She couldn't very well forgive him still. Not had he stolen her life, but he'd also stolen another life: a life if had not been stolen, then maybe, her's would have been with her too. She hated him on Darren's side also.

They jerked at their hands slightly, but ended up giving each other a brief hug.

"Did I disturb you too?" Evra asked, pretending to be innocent. _How come I didn't feel him approaching?_ Aadela thought to herself. She smiled inwardly when her mind replied an answer to her: she was too concerned.

"Don't act above your age." Aadela punched him playfully.

"As usual, you've lived up to punctuality, Evra!" Darren grumbled.

"Hey, Aadela, I just came to give this to you." saying so, Evra caught Aadela in a bear-hug which surprised even Aadela with its iron grip. She didn't know whether she was an inch or so above the ground or whether it was just an illusion. She couldn't remember anyone giving her such a friendly and affectionate hug in two years.

Surprisingly, it was not the hug that brought a tear, but the thought of Evra going away. "I'll miss you."

"Now there she goes! She's crying again!" Evra pretended being irritated, and succeeded in making Aadela laugh. "You've a strong will, but you cry too much. You do not deserve to be sad and so hard and cruel upon yourself."

It was beautiful, what Evra said, but it was said at a level a bit more intimate than it should've been. But Aadela didn't mind it. She leaned closed towards him, and looked him straight in the eye.

"Shut up now, or I'll burst into tears again." she replied softly.

Evra looked away, blushing (that is if snake-boys could blush) and chuckled slightly. Aadela didn't catch Darren's reaction and spoke in a lighter mood, "And I'll know whom to blame if Dr. Evra's dosage goes wrong."

"Believe me, Dr. Evra knows what he's doing. Plus, you should laugh and shout at least thrice a week."

Everyone laughed a bit.

"I think you should be moving on now." Aadela replied, as she looked at the darkening sky.

The two boys looked at each other and shook hands with Aadela and she in turn muttered in each of their ears 'take care', 'be safe', 'have fun', 'don't be bad'.

Aadela watched them go across the fields where they were staying. She saw a figure who was standing eerily errect. It waited, until her two friends joined it, and the three moved further on, while two of the figures waved back to her. She waved back too, knowing that only one of the waving figures would be able to see her. It was like a movie - a cheesy movie - but this one had a sad ending. Or if not sad, incomplete.

* * *

**Cookies to those who guess when this event is taking place. But actually... I think this is too simple a riddle to give a cookie for...**


	19. The friendships

Aadela kept still in her mattress. It had been a little more than 1 month since Darren had gone. Now he and Evra were back. She hardly knew whether to be elated at Darren's return or to be distressed about Evra's own misadventures. She had hugged Evra when he came back, and had rubbed his shoulders soothingly and had talked idly to him. She would be terrified herself, if she was caught by an uncanny vampaneze.

She'd sat with Darren and laughed with him. And she'd finally wormed out of him the thing which was bothering him a lot.

"So, all the time, it was you and Evra and Mr. Crepsely together, right?" Aadela idly asked, swinging her legs.

"Yeah. It was pretty boring, but hey, we had so much freedom!" Darren smiled.

"People round the Square might be thinking you two crazy."

"They did. Until I got a fake beard. After that, they _knew _we were crazy." Evra piped in a bit enthusiastically. It was rare of him to do so, and this further boosted Aadela's sly ways.

"Yes, of course, you are." Aadela sniggered. "I mean, Cher gets mad at me if I play with human children, and Darren was, what, walking around with them!"

"What? How did you know?" Darren asked, highly astonished. Evra looked confused too.

Aadela bent over, laughing. She caught her breath, and then replied, "Don't look at Evra like that! I just put this question randomly. So who is this person in question? A girl?"

Darren blushed.

"Don't worry. No hard feelings." Aadela winked, though inside, she felt a slight stirring of jealousy.

"Her name is Debbie Hemlock." Darren's blush deepened. "And well... we sort of clicked."

Aadela analysed this information silently. Then thankfully, the jealousy went away, and her sense of humour caught on. "She was tasty, yes? I'm sure you leaned into kiss her and then gently drank some blood too?"

Evra flinched slightly. Darren looked at him, and Evra whispered, "I'm okay."

"No, Ms. Felix. I didn't drink from her. She wasn't my meal. But, I got to kiss her at least. It wasn't bad."

"'It wasn't bad.'" Aadela mimicked Darren. "Then I'm sure it wasn't great either. Tell me the mushy details for next time; let me get over the shock of discovering that you can have a girlfriend." Aadela got up and got hit by a pillow thrown by Darren at her.

"Until next time." She'd said at that time and walked to Cher's tent.

Now Aadela Felix felt lost. Cher had told her that he would be returning to Vampire Mountain soon, where 'soon' meant about 3 months. He was a Vampire General, and it was time for him to report his findings to the Mountain, even though the Council would be happening only after 6 more years. Aadela felt sick at heart: Cher had been training her rigorously all along - they'd walked in perilous caves barefoot, which were full of all kinds of obstacles; he'd taught her swimming, and by these 2 years, she was proud to say that she could swim like a fish, and hold her breath till about 10 minutes; they'd walked on coals and hot sand for endless nights; gone on jungle treks and she'd learnt how to handle spiders, snakes and all sorts of animals; learnt how to fight with swords, daggers, knives and mastered all the various fighting techniques known to anybody alive; played stealth and memory games; and she'd even learnt how to fight blindfolded.

It was hard to believe that so much can be learnt in a mere 2 years, but that was the truth. It was easier for vampires to learn so much stuff than for humans, who would take five times more to learn even the easiest stuff, and then there were things which would mean suicide to them. Such is life for us, Cher told Aadela. Aadela simply nodded as if she understood, but the truth was, that she thought it all to be disgusting, barbarous and sadistic. Gouging out eyes... slicing up arms... battering skulls... bludgeoning limbs...all to just prove yourself? No. Never. All those tales of 'honour', all that 'bravery' and so-called 'victories' were all just examples of an unhealthy and ever-building up hatred towards this curse, pigheadedness and contempt.

For Aadela, to live and win with a little shame and a little cheating, was much better than to show your nobility, and yet to be butchered.

* * *

It was over. The three months which had been promised to Aadela to deepen her friendships were over. They would be leaving at nightfall, Cher and her. Aadela picked herself up and walked in a trance to Darren and Evra's tent. But when she finally stood right outside it, her physical strength was lost to the grief which was chewing away at her. She sat down, put her hands over her head and began to cry.

She got up after the tears were wasted, and then stood outside Darren's tent, knowing he would be able to sense her with his vampire senses.

"Aadela? What are you doing here?" Darren emerged from the tent. It was afternoon and everybody at the Cirque was preparing for the show. Aadela was required to help too.

"Cher got me off." Aadela mumbled, and Darren pulled her in his tent. Evra was there, fooling around with his snake.

"Hey, Aadela!" Evra grinned.

"Hey." Aadela gave a weak smile.

"Wait. How did Cher get you off?" Darren inquired.

"He told Mr. Tall that we'll be leaving." Aadela's voice became fainter than a whisper.

"Where?" Evra piped up.

"To Vampire Mountain."

"But doesn't the Council there happen after only 12 years?"

"Yes, it does."

"So, there are still 6 more years left, right?"

"Cher's a Vampire General, Darren. He has to report his findings to the Vampire Princes there much more frequently. Just like Gavner."

"We'll miss you." Evra said, genuinely feeling bad. Darren nodded. "When will you be coming back?" Evra asked optimistically.

Aadela bit her lip. Her eyes shot down.

"You _will _be coming back, won't you?" Darren asked suspiciously after a pause.

"Weren't you listening to anything I was saying? Cher is a Vampire General, Darren!" Aadela shrieked. "He has no obligation to come back to the Cirque; he has to go wherever his duties may carry him, or wherever he pleases! And I'm bound to him as his assistant, which makes it all the more probable that I will never see you two again! How can I wander off even if I don't want to be with him, Darren? HOW?"

"When are you leaving?" Evra asked. He'd turned grim now, a practice which indicated that he was appalled.

"Nightfall."

"I'll... I'll miss you, Aadela Felix." Darren stumbled. It took him a great deal of energy to say that.

Aadela simply moved towards Darren and gave him a bear-hug, which he returned.

"You're more a vampire's assistant than you can imagine, Darren. You'll be great one day. I love you." Aadela whispered in his ear. The last sentence slipped unconciously from her lips, and Darren too flinched ever too slightly for any eye, but neither minded.

"And you're a lovely person too; just don't be too hard on yourself." Darren whispered back. "And, I love you too."

Aadela gave him a peck on his cheek and walked away towards Evra. All this only took only about a three-fourth of a minute. Upon reaching Evra, she got him in a bear-hug too, taking great care that she didn't squash him.

"You're a good friend, Evra, especially to Darren. Be like that to him always; he's going to need it."

"Thanks, Aadela. I hope I get to carry out friendship for a very very long time."

"Me too." And she gave him a peck on his cheek and backed away. She didn't want to see the boys burst to tears - not that they were going to in front of each other! And she walked away silently, out of the tent.

When night came, they shook hands with Mr. Tall and thanked him for his hospitality. They took great care not to pass through Darren's or Evra's way, as per Aadela's request to Cher. Earlier that day, she'd been thinking Cher to be a bit inconsiderate, but now that she saw him, she reprimanded herself severely: without Cher, she would have nothing and that she loved Cher a lot. She was about to scold herself more when she heard a voice echo in her mind:

"Just don't be too hard on yourself."

She quickly tuned it out of her brain, but recalled it back once she realised the sadness of what she was doing. Yes, she'd said her goodbyes and had no intention of going over them again, but it will be wrong of her not to go over the memories of her friends. And from what Cher had said many times about Vampire Mountain, she was going to need it all.


	20. The journey

**Does reviewing kill anybody? If you've experienced this yourself, or watched someone else experience it, or know someone who experienced it, then please cite your case to me. However, if you've no such experience (I hope) then please, it is not a crime to review someone's work. Thank you.**

* * *

"So," Cher panted, as he tried to make conversation with Aadela to distract her mind from the cold and the rugged terrain, "let me ask you a question."

"What?" Aadela snapped. Cher definitely wasn't helping.

"Sum up your journey so far to the Vampire Mountain in one word." There were erratic pauses, as each tried to get their breath and cross over the obstacles safely as comfortably as they could.

"_A _word?" Aadela spat. "_A word? _What the fuck, Cher? You think this is a frigging fucking funny joke?"

"Whoa, Aadela! That's the best alliteration I've ever heard in a non-poetic piece!" Cher replied testily.

Aadela wanted to slap him so bad. It was what, like 4 months, since they'd been traveling! And here he was, making unnecessary and abysmally _stupid _conversations. And it was a constant 4 months of cold, rocks, mountains and more cold, more rocks and more mountains. Aadela's clothes kept her warm, but made her like a couch potato - what with those woollen gloves and stockings stockings, knee-length fur lined boots, thick and woollen leggings, full sleeve shirt and a sweater and a scarf wrapped around her head which met in a knot around her neck, she felt like a walking showroom. And when was it since she last had a bath? Ah, yes! _4 MONTHS!_

It was a punishing journey, and there was everything which could kill you by simply making you lose your hope to reach the Mountain - thorns, steep stones, wide rivers, rocks, dangerous animals, and of course, the cold. Wolves often traveled with them, and crawled along with Cher and Aadela and kept them warm and gave them company, but it made Aadela all the more desperate for a bath. Her heart had been broken once she'd tried to pet a dog a year ago when he'd snapped at her viciously. Dogs were always friendly to her and she loved them. So was the case with cats. When Cher explained to her the reason, she was appalled, to say the least. _Well, at least I can pet a wolf, _Aadela thought to herself when she remembered how she wanted to hug wolves when she was small.

And now? Well. She had no time to miss Darren or Evra: she was either too exhausted, or too cautious in her walk. And she was beginning to use cuss words and swear words too often. She didn't like doing so, but when she was too angry or too frustrated, they came out pretty readily. It was astonishing, the number of bruises you can be covered with in the time period of 4 months. Very, astonishing.

* * *

"We're near. Very near." Cher said, unexpectedly.

"What? Really? You aren't kidding, right?" Aadela stuttered.

"No, sis. I swear I'm not." Cher replied, and cast a smile to Aadela. Aadela couldn't have cared less - they were near! She began eagerly wondering what and how she would find things there to be like. There was apprehension, a bit because she was still a child when she'd been blooded, and of course, eagerness, curiosity and anticipation. Cher had told her many stories on their way, and though she disapproved of the rigid and unbending codes of honour and all, she found it all very interesting.

But as the night set, Aadela's eagerness died and the nausea which had been building over a couple of weeks began to cloud over - much stronger this time. Aadela's mind began to concentrate to ward her sickness away, which resulted she fell more than often on the treacherous paths. She'd not had a decent meal in weeks and it was the same with blood. She was tired, hungry and bruised. She could never comprehend how she stumbled on, with Cher extending a lot of support to her.

They entered a tunnel and walked on and on, left, then right, then up then down, in no orderly fashion. After what seemed like ages, they finally wound up at a dead end - a door.

"What now?" Aadela asked, frustrated. The nausea hadn't gone, as it used to earlier, but had instead become stronger and more draining. Though still, she felt hopeful.

Cher didn't reply, but simply knocked at the door. Few vampires clad in green emerged with spears, too late for Aadela's liking, and barked, "Address yourselves to the gate!"

"I am Cher Brunsk, come to seek the Council." Cher replied.

"I am Aadela Felix, come to seek the Council." Aadela stuttered with a good deal of effort.

"Cher Brunsk is recognised by the gate, but not the other one." One of the guards said. They looked so menacing that Aadela felt her fear keep her nausea in check.

"She is my assistant, a half vampire. I vouch for her." Cher calmly replied.

"Then Aadela Felix is recognised by the gate."

The guards led them away to the welcome hall, and they were shortly served some food. If that could be called food.

"Help yourself as much as you wish." Cher said, and set himself devotedly to the task.

"I can't." Aadela shook her head. "I don't want to... I'm feeling sick."

"You'll feel sicker if you don't eat anything. Come on, get something down your throat and then you can sleep as long as you wish." Cher coaxed.

"Okay... here goes." Aadela muttered uncertainly, and took the broth. She dabbed her bread in the broth and took a sip.

"Well?" Cher asked.

Aadela didn't reply. Her cheeks bloated and she bent over to the side, and vomitted.

"Aadela! Are you alright?" Cher asked, shocked.

"Do I look alright?" Aadela replied weakly, after retching out the last of what was bothering her. "I want to go now. To sleep. Please."

Cher nodded. He helped Aadela up, and they began following a vampire who'd appeared shortly. Aadela leant on Cher for support, and he rubbed her back encouragingly. Before she could realise anything else, she fainted.


	21. The Princes

For the first time in something like 4 months, Aadela felt warm. Aadela woke up, and saw Cher by her side, as usual when she had blackouts.

"Hey." Aadela mumbled sleepily, and sat up.

"Good morning!" Cher chirped. "Feeling better?"

"Yes!" Aadela grinned. "And hungry too! We've reached Vampire Mountain, haven't we?"

"Yep! And before food maybe you should have a bath; I've already had mine."

"No wonder you're not smelling."

"At least I wasn't smelling as bad as you. Now get up."

Aadela got up, excited and fetched out some clothes. They walked out of the tiny area where she'd been sleeping, and into the various caves. There wasn't much activity, surprisingly, but every once in a while a vampire would appear and greet them. They entered a hall, known as the Hall of Perta vin-Grahl. The waterfalls entranced her and so did the structure of the Hall.

"Well, go ahead. Take a quick shower, and then we'll hurry along to have some food." Cher began walking out when Aadela stopped him.

"Take a bath... here?"

"Yes, where else?" he asked, genuinely surprised.

"But the water's so cold! And... what if someone comes while I'm taking a bath?"

Cher chuckled, "Don't worry about that, you'll be the only one who'll come here everyday."

"What? The only one?" Aadela asked, horrified.

Cher couldn't help but laugh again. "Go on, and there are some rock niches, if someone _does _come. Enjoy." Saying so, he left the Hall.

Aadela glanced around uncertainly several times, then finally stripped off her clothes and jumped into the waterfall - an unwise thing to do. She shrieked with the cold of the water and the shock of it, but water gurgled into her mouth and she couldn't do anything but spit it out and jump from one spot to another. It didn't take her much time to adjust to the water and enjoy the bath as months of grime and stickiness left her body. She'd hoped for some nice, hot water, but this was still better than anything. The only thing she really wanted was a soap-cake and a scrub. But she knew better than to pine for such luxuries.

She got out, after scrubbing herself throughly with her hands, and put on her fresh, clean clothes - ah! She'd forgotten the feel of tank tops and skirts and sandals; it was warm enough for such clothes in the Mountain. Humming a tune, she opened the doors of the Hall and walked out, still humming.

"I didn't realise you were so pretty!" Cher mock-exclaimed.

"Shut up." Aadela snapped playfully, then added after a moment's pause, "I'm sorry, Cher, that was rude of me, wasn't it? I should have instead explained to you that however clean or dirty you'll ever be, it won't matter and won't change the fact that you just aren't handsome at all!"

Cher punched her and they made their way to the dinning hall - Hall of Khledon Lurt. Cher had taken the liberty to teach Aadela all the common phrases or curses used by vampires and the names of different Halls. They sat down at one of the few long tables and were suddenly smothered by too many smelly vampires. Aadela nearly retched at the intensity of the stench, but no one paid her close attention.

"Cher! My old friend! How've you been?"

"Let's hear about what Cher did to erring vampaneze this time!"

"Whom did you beat up?"

"Do you plan to take the Trials again?"

Cher responded very enthusiastically and naturally to these and many more such questions. Talk was racocious and deafening and fanciful. But Aadela found herself listening enthusiastically to it.

"What would you like?" a female, probably a vampire, appeared and asked her. She was pretty plain looking, and Cher only said, "The usual breakfast, please."

"What's there to eat?" Aadela asked.

"You've your bread, bat broth, fried rats, worm stews, dog brain soups, blood, meads, ales, wild grasses, litchens, seeds, other meats, cheese and all." the female recited off. Aadela's eyes widened until they resembled the shape of two large olives.

"Nothing!" pat came the reply.

"What? Don't be serious! You've got to eat something!"

"No! Nothing!" Aadela gulped.

"Get her bread and cheese, two vials of blood, and some roasted chicken." Cher ordered, and the female went away.

"She wasn't serious when she said 'bat broth' and 'fried rats' and 'worm stews' and 'dog brain soup', especially dog brain soup, was she?" Aadela asked.

"You'll be eating much worse before we might leave the Mountain next." Cher responded, caught between trying to stay serious and the urge to laugh badly.

"Did I inform you that I'm turning a vegetarian?" Aadela mumbled. At this, all the other vampires chortled over. Wiping their eyes, one of them said, "She's a great one! Anyone heard of a vegetarian vampire?"

"Who is she, by the way?" another one asked curiously.

"This is my cousin and assistant, Aadela Felix."

"Greetings to you, Aadela Felix." all the vampires chanted, many smiled.

"Greetings." Aadela replied shyly, with an awkward smile.

* * *

"I'm going on a diet, Cher! I can't eat all the stuff they offer here!" Aadela complained. Aadela had taken ages to chew a single morsel of her breakfast, so Cher had to postpone giving her a tour of the Mountain.

"You'll eat, or you'll fall ill." Cher shrugged.

"What a great choice!" Aadela replied sarcastically.

"Sarcasm is your strong point, isn't it?"

"It is just the blood which runs in both of us - the family blood, I mean. Where are we going, by the way?"

"To meet the Vampire Princes. We've to show you to them."

"Why?"

"A vampire is not allowed to blood a child due to the many difficulties, a major of them being emotional ones, which follow. The Princes must accept you."

"And what if they don't?" Aadela looked straight ahead; she knew enough of the vampiric world to know what could be the possible outcomes.

"There are always ways. And I'm ready to fight to death." Cher replied with gritted teeth. Aadela just walked on with Cher, feeling a bit numb. They arrived at what could be called the top of the inhabitable mountain where there was a huge door and several, massive guards barring it.

"I wish to seek the audience of the Princes." Cher commanded. There was a long pause and they were let in, whilst guards stood sinisterly at the side of the tunnel. They were frisked about - too cautiously for Aadela's taste - and they finally entered a vast cavern with a dome. Cher marched along with Aadela looking here and there in awe. They made their way to the benches arranged around the cavern and sat in the front row. Not many were there besides them - most of the Generals would be coming back a week later, as Cher said, to do their regular reportings.

A guard announced their names, and Cher grabbed Aadela and made his way down to the platform where the Princes' sat at their thrones.

"How do you do, Cher? It is a long time since we last saw you." one of the Princes, who looked as the sponsor of a black dye - Mika ver Leth. From what Cher had said, it was a bit unusual of him to talk so freely to anyone who wasn't a Prince.

"I do well, Mika, as the luck of vampires and my own talents both go hand in hand with me. I hope you be patient with me, sires, as I've something grave to tell you."

"What is it that bothers you, Cher? Vampaneze? Mad vampires?" _to call the man who asked this question _old_, would be like calling a blue whale _small_, _Aadela thought to herself, as she took in the appearance of Paris Skyle.

"I wish to inform the Princes about the blooding of my new and young assistant, Aadela Felix."

"She's merely a girl!" _Whoa! Incredible Hulk without hair and green skin, with some clothes and tatoos?_ Aadela almost spoke her thoughts out loud as she surveyed Arrow.

"You know very well as a General about the strict upholding of our rules, don't you, Cher?" Mika asked severely.

"Yes, I do, sire. But I want to explain the reasons to you and I hope that whatever I say is accepted as the truth here - firstly, her home was ravaged by the vampaneze, her family was killed, but I managed to rescue her and get her to safety. She was going to die due to the shocking numbers and degree of wounds she'd and I just couldn't watch her die, which brings me to the second reason why I blooded her - she's my cousin, but I loved her and still love her as my sister. Thirdly, due to the impact of losing all that she cherished, Aadela's -"

"- more than desperate for revenge." Aadela croaked. Her throat had gone dry, but with Cher speaking on, the bitter memories of the past came back to haunt her. "I'm not willing to cause a bloodbath, but if I've to kill an entire horde of vampaneze, to get to those three villains, I'm more than willing to do it. Cher has taught me a lot, but not enough, and I'm willing to cut their hides whilst they still live, layer by layer." As Aadela continued, her voice strenghtened, and each syllable held hatred, power, malice and bloodlust.

Cher nodded. "And I've no doubt about her intelligence, capabilities and determination."

The Princes listened gravely and nodded. "But, Ms. Felix, did you know what Cher was about to do and what it's outcomes would be?"

Aadela gulped, then began speaking confidently, "No, sire. But I'm highly indebted to Cher here." she realised that this would be the only way to get herself and Cher out of the muck, "He saved my life, gave me a new target and has trained me well. I do not object to what he's done. True, it took some time and lots of pain to adjust to such a hard life, and my task isn't yet complete, but I'm not apprehensive of Cher about anything. Cher not only saved me from possible death, but also from a sick life: the vampaneze were vile, and could and would've done anything, even made me one of them."

"But this revenge which you seek... You should know that the vampaneze might be there only to feed." Arrow replied, thoughtfully.

"False. The vampaneze were there only because my brother had, as he told me and the rest of the family, eavesdropped on their conversations out of sheer curiosity which arose from looking at their appearance. Eventually, my brother did get scared, and fled, having never realised that the vampaneze knew of his misadventure. The vampaneze attacked us all out of spite, as they so maliciously told us, and _bled my parents and brother out dry even when they weren't hungry_!" Aadela shut fast her eyes and spoke with emotion.

"And how come you knew they weren't hungry?" Paris inquired.

"Instincts, gut feeling, intuition - their eyes weren't hungry, only spiteful and malicious." Aadela spoke with disgust.

"Allow me to intervene here, sires. I know Aadela long enough to recognise her sharp sense of intuition. Also, one can simply tell by looking at the other's eyes about the emotion they're feeling."

The Princes nodded. Finally, Mika spoke, "This is a grave matter, Cher. Please leave us while we discuss it amongst ourselves."

They retreated and moved edgily about. "Cher, what will they do if they don't approve?" Aadela asked like a distressed child asked for their missing toy.

"I don't know, Aadela." Cher replied, equally disturbed. "But you should know that I meant everything what I said, especially that I love you."

"Love might not get us through." Aadela sniffed. Aadela looked up in guilt after she said those words, but Cher had turned away from her.

Just as Aadela felt she would burst with the tension building up inside her, the Princes called them forward again.

"This is a subtle matter, Cher and it could be even more subtle as you're a General." Paris began. "But for one, your good work and name and the second thing being that you've provided a perfect and logical reason for blooding so young a child, and the good thing is that your assistant is fairly well satisfied too. However, you must take proper care of her and give her the best of tuition, and I'm emphasizing this for the fact that you love traveling from one place to another."

"Your assistant can either go with you on your travels or stay in the Mountain, but you _have _to be a proper colleague-in-blood." Arrow continued. "That been said, we will not subject either of you to any form of punishment or duty, but once your assistant is fully blooded, she must pass the Trials of Initiation. Having said that, you're excused."

Aadela simply bowed her head and almost slid to the ground, but managed to get support from her thighs. She had a faint notion of Cher bowing to the Princes and thanking them on both their behalf, and then thumping her a bit on her back.

* * *

**Okay, so this chapter is a little crap. But I don't know what to write... so here are some 2.4 k painful words. Excuse me please.**


	22. New friends

They walked out of the Hall in perfect silence. Aadela mused about how frightened she'd been a few minutes ago. She hadn't been so frightened since almost two years ago she slipped down the stairs and found Saiansh there, having smelled the doom.

"Go get a good day's rest." Cher intsructed and walked over to his chamber which wasn't very far from Aadela's. Generals and their assistants had slightly better accomodations than other common vampires.

Aadela nodded. She headed to her own chamber, opened the coffin and lay down, with its cover still open.

* * *

Aadela woke up as good as ever after a good rest. Her numbness and shock had vanished and she made her way down to Cher's chamber. She knocked on the door and Cher barked, "Come in!"

"Good morning, Cher!" Aadela smiled brightly and sat on a stool. She noticed someone else with him, a very old looking vampire.

"Aadela, meet the quartermaster of the Vampire Mountain, Seba Nile."

"Hello, Mr. Nile. Nice to meet you!" Aadela stood and went over to Seba Nile and shook his hand.

"Hello, Aadela! It is good to see you here. How do you do?" Seba asked politely.

"Good, thanks." Aadela took back her place.

"We were just discussing the escapades and findings of your colleague-in-blood. I hardly dare to imagine the length of the list of activities he would have done by the time he would be my age!"

"So Cher tells me. But they aren't too fanciful, if you ask me!" Aadela winked at the old quartermaster.

Seba laughed. "Your assistant knows well the arts of conversation! Now, I must ask you two to kindly excuse me, much as I am sorry about it, for I have some work to tend to."

"Of course not, Seba, by all means! Have a good day!" Cher stood up and shook Seba's hand.

"I wish the same for you both too." Giving a final, fleeting smile, Seba exited the room.

After the revered vampire had left, Aadela reprised her slightly brisk manner. "So, what are we going to do today?"

"Why can't you be as joyful towards me as you're towards other people?" asked Cher, feigning frustration and annoyance.

Aadela shrugged. "I wished you 'good morning' and treated you with a smile."

"Ah, a treat indeed!" Cher smirked. "You might want to take a bath first, and then we'll go down to the Hall of Kheldon Lurt and then I'm going to give you a tour of the Mountain."

Aadela clapped her hands in response, earning herself a punch.

* * *

Aadela ate her meal, as disgustedly as before, but not nearly so slowly. But Cher was almost mad by the time she shook the crumbs off her fingers.

"You should just eat your numbing pills if you're going to be so picky about your food." Cher grumbled and they set off. They were barely out of the Hall when they heard someone shouting.

"Cher, is that really you?" Both of them turned with curiosity, but before Aadela could see who'd shouted, Cher had engulfed the vampire in a bear-hug. There was a lot of clapping on the back and over-enthusiastic but mumbled cries of greeting and all. Aadela walked over lightly to where the vampires, who'd now broken apart, were engulfed in conversation.

"Great, boys' night out!" Aadela cried over the hullaballoo.

"It's been a long time since I last saw you in the Hall of the Princes, Cher! I could hardly believe my eyes when you stepped forward the previous night." the vampire spoke.

"Yes, and I was just so damn eager to come and see you straightaway! I'd thought that I might see you the previous night only, but as you can see, my assistant is the wife reincarnate of the devil and slower than a snail." Cher smiled grimly.

Aadela grimaced and seized the oppurtunity to study Cher's friend. The first thing she automatically noticed was that he wasn't patched up and scarred like other vampires, with the exception being three, almost parallel scars giving the appearance that he'd scratched himself too bad. Cher wasn't too scarred either, but that was not because he didn't fight as much as other vampires. But this vampire on the whole looked like a pacifist.

"Kurda, meet my assistant and cousin, Aadela Felix." Cher piped up, stopping Aadela's flow of thoughts. "And Aadela, meet Kurda Smahlt, my very good friend indeed."

"Hi!" Aadela shook hands with Kurda, and studied him: blond with blue eyes. He seemed highly intelligent and more inclined towards a practical and logical state of matter. Aadela was charmed, to say the least.

"Nice to meet you finally." Kurda grinned. "Though I don't know why Cher called you the wife of a devil: you look like an innocent and good creautre."

"Oh, he likes to maul people." Aadela explained. Kurda chuckled while Aadela ducked her way out of a punch coming from her right.

"So, what are you doing tonight? If you're free, why don't you come to my room to catch up on all those years?" Kurda asked Cher. "Aadela is welcome too - would you like to come?"

"Oh, I'd love to!" Aadela chirped.

"Actually, I'm showing Aadela the Mountain; why don't you join us?"

"Definitely!" Saying so, they made their way towards the closest Hall, the Halls of Sport. Aadela saw possibly every game regarding fighting in the Hall of Sports they were currently in. Two vampires were engaged on wrestling mats, and they sat down to see them along with a crowd of a little more than ten-twenty vampires for a little while.

"How many vampires are there currently in the Mountain, Kurda?" Cher asked between hooting and rooting the vampires.

"Not many; a little less than a hundred. Some more will be coming over the next week or so - they've their reports to give."

"The thing _I_ want to give right now is a horse's kick to both of those vampires over!" Cher muttered. "I mean, what kind of vampires fight like that?"

"Well, we don't have you around as much as we would like, Cher, to teach these vampires the many arts of fighting" someone came across and Aadela saw, to her extreme horror, that he'd one eye missing and he hadn't even bothered to cover it.

"Vanez Blane!" Cher roared and embraced the one-eyed vampire. "What work do you do if you can't teach these ignorant fools a thing or two?"

"I've been focusing on getting Kurda entangled in situations where he will have to fight." Vanez replied, casting a look of hopelessness towards Kurda.

"By that logic, Vanez, I can bet myself to you that you'll die much before than ever getting me to fight." Kurda smirked.

"If you two are done harassing each other about when one will fight and one will die, then I'd like to move on." Cher remarked drily. "Oh, and by the way, Aadela, Vanez Blane is the gamesmaster of the Mountain, or the person who oversees the games."

"Aadela Felix!" Vanez roughly shook hands with her.

"Let me guess, you lost your eye in a fight, right?"

"Aye, that also with a lion. It was quite a fight!"

"And it is quite a story to tell. I've listened to it so many times before, and I think I'll never tire of listening it for the millionth time." Cher said. "We'll need to get Aadela adjusted here first - she's very new here."

"I've just heard about her. Word of advice, pretty girl - do not ever offend your colleague in blood, because he's a dirty rascal."

"Trust me, he's not _a _rascal; he's _the _rascal." Before the laughter of the other three could end, Cher dragged Aadela out of the Hall, and Kurda had to speed up to follow them. They soon reached the Hall of Cremation where Cher explained to her all what happened before and after a body was cremated.

"So... Is this like another tradition for you guys or you can make a choice if you want to be cremated or not?"

"It is kind of ironic that most vampires don't want to be put in coffins when they die. They probably want to distinguish like having a nap from finally dying." Cher shrugged.

"But bones don't burn... What do you do with them?"

"We grind them with the pestle and mortar over there," Kurda pointed, "and once they're grinded, we use them as stock in all of our food items."

Aadela couldn't help but retch. Yuck! She looked up weakly and saw the two vampires hollering their heads off. "What's so funny about it?" Try as she might, she couldn't show more anger than her disgust.

"Tit for tat, cousin." Cher laughed evily. "Of course we don't use the bones for _anything _except for throwing them outside the Mountain, to set the spirit free. It is just Kurda's favourite hobby to tell people such things - that's why he goes around acting more than friendly towards newcomers here."

If looks could kill, Cher and Kurda would've been dead by now. But Aadela's curiosity won over her basilisk rage. "Hmmm... a bit like Hinduism, this cremation business, isn't it? And the removing of organs - so Egyptian."

"Yes, you percieved very correctly." Kurda was decidedly impressed. "Let's move on to the Hall of Final Voyage."

They spent the rest of the night walking around the Mountain, and Aadela spent her time taking in the Mountain and listening with interest to Kurda's and Cher's conversation. Her attention faded away gradually, as day approached.

"Oh, and if you want to know anything about the vampaneze, Aadela, then Kurda's your vampire." Cher spoke directly to Aadela after a long time, causing her to jump.

"Oh, uh, really?" Aadela asked, startled. "Then you and I'd have to talk more often."

"I wouldn't mind that." Kurda grinned, and Aadela thanked the heavens for the millionth time in her life for giving her the gift to be able to make friends very easily.

* * *

**Kurda is likeable, right? *hint hint*. Wait... change that to lovable. Yes! I fell for him _HARD._ Anyway, I've a couple of things to tell you people. The first being that as this story is going to be HUGE, I'm going to split it into 2. So this part will end when The Vampire Prince is completed, that is, the first 6 books. The second part will chronicle the rest of the 6 books, and the 3rd part will chronicle Aadela's later life, works and death.**

**Secondly, you might want to suggest me the name of the sequel, which will chronicle the rest of the 6 books.**

**Thirdly, I've decided that I want another OC. Yes, that's right, but that's half the story. The OC is going to be... - YOU! So, this lucky person will have to give me a bio-data of theirs, according to the details I give, and I'll inclue you in this series or the next. But this is not for free... fortunately, you don't have to pay money for it. The only payment required is... you guessed it right, REVIEWS! So whosoever's review I find special over the next 2 -3 chapters, will feature in my story! It might be only 1 person... might be more than 1. **

**So... Cherios, and keep reading (and REVIEWING). Hey, and remember, constructive criticism or complaints will also count as "special reviews"**


	23. Loneliness

Dear Diary,

My new residence is at Vampire Mountain: out of reach from fresh air, out of reach from sunlight, out of reach from other creatures of nature and out of reach from _Darren_. It has been three years since I arrived at the Mountain: I've finally turned fifteen! Wow, isn't that _great _news? On the basis of my previous knowledge, I hadn't been expecting the stay at the Mountain to be enthralling for more than a week or so. But neither had I been expecting the drastic drop it's taken.

Cher. How can I describe our relationship - a relationship which now barely exists. Cher has pushed me away from him. He leaves the confines of this _cave _without me and when he comes back after spending months at stretch traveling elsewhere, he barely took the liberty to talk to me. After the first two-three times this happened, whenever he called me to his chamber, I simply refused to talk to him, thought it burned my heart to do so. If he came to my room, I played dumb. Finally, frustrated with what he saw, he lashed out, "If you wish to act up so stuck-up, and make me think that it was a blunder to blood you, then you're darn well good at it! It was my error to blood you and have a whiny child at my hands!"

I couldn't help but scream back, "And if you are so desperate to be rid of me, Cher, then why did you blood me in the first place? Don't you dare get me wrong - I know the twisted turns fate can take, but then _why_ did you blood me?"

He never replied to that. He barely even saw me after that. When he came to the Mountain, we would greet each other and ask if things were going well and bid adieu to each other when he left, while I rotted inside this huge, ghastly hole! I am jailed up here, while he roams around the world as he pleases... he thought he could and would be a good mentor to me, but he doesn't have the patience and time to bear up with another. Once he'd gotten me to the Mountain, I was almost off his hands.

I couldn't cry however badly it struck me. Maybe what Evra told me, I engraved on my heart. I didn't shed even a single drop of tear. Perhaps I've seen too much of other grievances that now my heart is immune to other matters of sadness, including dismissal by the only family I now have. I borne it as well as I could, the first time. I was upset, but didn't complain when he came back, and greeted him with so much enthusiasm and delight and longing. He talked to me, albeit for a very short time. I couldn't help but be furious when this repeated, but I didn't argue. When the disaster struck the third time, I decided to take things in my hand, and obviously, failed.

I'd begged him to take me with him all those three times, but he'd refused point-blank. "Aadela, my work is tricky: you must learn our arts before you can accompany me."

"I'm already well versed in several kinds of martial arts and I know how to wield and use and throw swords and daggers and spears." I'd replied. "Besides, I'm as good an assistant who does various jobs as any!"

"I know: but you're still too young and tender." _Young and tender, indeed! _What the fuck does he mean to say by 'young and tender'? We both knew that it was a lousy excuse and that I knew that he was deliberately wanting me away from him. The second time, he left me with the same explanation, only given more hastily and frustratedly. The third time, there was no response, except a simple statement that I'm not _fit_ and _worthy_ to go along with him. I've taken it the best I could, but it's not been easy.

I'm haunted by my old memories of family, friends, pets and Darren. It's surprising how I manage not to shed a single tear for any of them, even if my heart is burning vehemently. I've tried to keep myself very useful in the Mountain. I help around in the kitchens, and am friends with a female vampire there, Keyesha. She's a great talker, and I love just simply listening to her. She's pretty busy and by the end of her work-time, is pretty tired, so we meet around the kitchens only.

Then I've more than often volunteered to help around Seba Nile with his work. It's a very precise job, and took me quite a number of errors and a lot of time to learn, but I'm getting better at it. It's not only useful and productive, but also helps me to kill time. Plus, it's another way to have new people to chat to: Jaiyard, Mordor and Brunsen. All three of them are older than me, but we get along pretty well and it's really fun to talk to them. I sometimes wonder, that if that's the rate I continue at, I might forget how to be friendly and comfortable in a woman's or girl's presence!

Anyhow, the rest of the time is spent in fighting vampires and testing myself on various games (I'm still reserved about losing some thing like an eye, a finger and all and getting a scar). Also, I've begun converting my memories of this life to diary entries, so now I've a thick collection of memoirs. Plus, Cher had gotten me a guitar after the first time he went, so I've been teaching myself some tunes. All this when written down sounds plentiful of things to do, but to apply them, I will always have most of the night left, bearing boredom.

There is one another thing too; a thing which I enjoy most of all. Accompanying Kurda whilst he goes map-making and exploring different tunnels and caves is very fascinating... at least it is to me! It was definitely not required of him to take me with him anywhere, for I'd be more than a liability to him, but he always made a gesture to ask me. I don't know why he does it: maybe he took pity on me, or maybe it is out of courtesy to Cher, who's a great friend of his.

Life isn't as good here as it might sound. It's lonely, boring and reserved. Especially now that Cher's gone... I'm sick of whining about him, much as I dislike him so much - well, that's the half truth. I can't hate him even though we might not be on the best of terms. It's just how I am. One day... I'll run away from the Mountain, whether I'm old enough or not, and if I perish in those treacherous paths, then so be it! Anything, besides waiting and waiting and waiting here...

AFadela


	24. Maps of caves and hearts

"Where are we going to go today?" Aadela tramped through the unexplored natural tunnels of the Mountain.

"I don't know..." the vampire in front of her spoke, absent minded.

"What do you mean, 'you don't know'?" Aadela snapped.

"I, uh - I mean- " Kurda sighed. "Oh, very well! This is a tunnel leading off from one of the main system of tunnels I'd mapped."

Aadela muttered something under her breath, obviously not very flattering, to which Kurda retaliated, "Aadela, you aren't a very informative company either, so just - _crawl_!" He put the emphasis on the last word, as they suddenly found themselves in a cave ready to squeeze them to the ground. Aadela's mouth twitched and she couldn't help snorting a little with laughter.

They were out map-making. Or rather, Kurda was out map-making and she was just tagging along. It was gruesome job, holding for him his lamps and crawling and stamping and tramping around, getting pinched and cut here and there, but Aadela found it fun. Sometimes one of Kurda's assistants also came along, and Aadela found herself being subjected so a slightly curious and amused gaze. She didn't mind those times - the assistants were nice, although she didn't talk to them much - but it diluted her pleasure a bit, for reasons which she didn't know. But today's tunnel had so far been the worst: there were sudden drops and erratic changes in the height of the tunnel, with sharp rocks jutting out maliciously at every junction.

"There's a stalagmite the size of a pillar ahead, and very little way for one to crawl." Kurda panted, "Slither around it, but use your hands well."

Aadela paused, taking in the topography of the cave. Kurda was right; the stalagmite was colossal. She lowed herself fully onto her belly, and stretched out her hands in front of her, accidentally grasping Kurda's shoes.

"Wait for me to pass!" Kurda hissed.

She waited for a sufficient amount of time, and when she heard her cue, she began slithering. She groped her hands around, moved her belly ever so slightly and gently hit her feet against the ground to provide the momentum. It was cautious and painstaking and took a lot of time, but finally she manged to slither around it.

"Are you alright?" Kurda asked once they were out of harm's way.

"Yes, I'm fine." Aadela brushed her clothes and they continued on. They weren't carrying a lantern this time, for Kurda had already informed her that the going would be tough as it is, and that she would be incapicated with the lantern. So every so often, they would stop, whilst Kurda bent down and worked on his graph sheets. Aadela thought about the conversation she'd had with him once. It was about his past life. Aadela still thought with emotion how he'd spoken to her about his previous life pretty freely, considering that the topic of the past lives of vampires was always a tricky and touchy one.

"European? Northern? American? What are you?" Aadela had idly asked.

"What do you mean?" Kurda had responded back.

"I'm asking you about what region you once used to be before you adopted vampirism." This was definitely not a subtle way to go about the matter, but Aadela couldn't think to save her life any other way, even if she'd no intention to sound rude.

"I-uh-I-" Kurda stumbled and withdrew himself.

"I'm sorry." Aadela was instantly meekend, as she realised the outrageousness of her questions. "I didn't mean to be rude. I... I was just a bit curious. I'm sorry."

"You'd better be." Kurda replied stiffly, causing Aadela to look away in shame. Aadela lapsed into the nightmares about her old life, which still haunted her and felt sick at heart. How could she forget her own rigidity, when someone brought the same question up?

"I shouldn't have been so harsh," Kurda suddenly replied drily, causing Aadela to jump. "I forgot that you were still so young."

"No... no," she stuttered. "No. You're absolutely right. I'm sorry."

"It was the late 19th century, I think."

"What?"

"I said," Kurda took up the tone of a patient teacher who had the job to teach a slow student, "that my story started around the late 19th century."

"Why're you telling me all this?" Aadela asked, surprised.

"Why, didn't you want to know a moment before?"

"But... but..." Aadela trailed off, confused.

"Listen," Kurda had grasped her arm, and she could till date feel the shock run through her, "I think you're my friend, and if you want to know something, it's only right that I at least help you figure it out. The story of one's past is never a merry one, especially a vampire's, as you may also know, and the abruptness of your demand brought sharp memories back to me, many of which I still try desperately to forget. And I'm ready to try the 'sharing the grief' technique too, so allow me, to spin the yarn."

Aadela had listened, mesmerized, about his former life. "I was a noble in the lands of this king, who was, like many others in his era, powerful, shrewd and wealthy. I was young, but that didn't stop or hinder me. I was a navigator, a diplomat, a pacifist and influential. My pacifist ways caught the scorn of many, but my plans about the welfare of the kingdom kept such people in check. People respected me, not only because I helped the masses, but also they were in awe of my diplomatic tactics.

"Yet I was a die-hard patriot. I rose very high, and became close to the king... So close that he even adopted me as his flesh and blood and gave me all the rights and titles like a son of his would have. I would've been even higher, had the arrogant fool not mistaken me for a traitor, after some rebellions and declarations of war from surrounding kingdoms. He had me tortured and I rotted in the dungeons. That would've been the end of me, had a man not come to me and presented me with an offer too good to refuse: vampirism. He said he was a vampire, he even proved so; he said he was a scout in one of the warring kingdoms and had his eye on me ever since this bloody tale began. I accepted, but didn't leave with him too soon.

"I left only after I'd put things right in my and other kingdoms. My pacifist ways hadn't changed, but during my work, the experience of living with the poor and the common man, the helpless and the orphan morphed much of what I was earlier into what I'm now. Once my work was done, I presented myself to my foster father and proclaimed to him all that I'd done for my land with proper proofs. And after that, I left, as I'd made my peace."

"Let's move on." Kurda's present voice snapped her back to reality, and they continued their punishing trek. He'd responded freely and kindly to any question she'd asked regarding the summary he'd given, and had not hesitated a single bit after he told her about himself. He would often say that telling her his saga had indeed been pretty relieving and had reminded him once again of his roots, but Aadela thought that he was only saying this not to make her feel bad about all of it, but the truth was that he was more than serious.

"You're keeping pretty quiet today." Kurda mused.

"What do you mean?"

"Not chatting and blabbering away on something on the other, right?" Kurda asked slyly.

"I don't blabber!" Aadela burst indignantly, "And I definitely don't create a ruckus - I'm mostly silent!"

"I never said anything about a ruckus!"

"Oh, you meant that anyway!"

"No... no, you're right," Kurda turned to grin at her, causing her to blush for some reason or the other, "You don't blabber or chatter or anything like that. I was just pulling your leg." And he actually pulled her leg as they approached a sharp incline!

"Ouch!" Aadela grumbled, "You've a horrible timing for puns!" He simply grinned at her and they continued. "I was just musing about that when I finally get out from the Mountain, I'm going to buy myself and own a 1980 Pontiac Firebird."

"What's that?"

"A car." Aadela winked at him.

"What do you need a car for?" Kurda laughed.

"Style statement." Aadela shrugged. "Besides, I was never a car expert, but I always had a thing for convertibles - cars without any roof." This wasn't far from truth, indeed, Aadela really wanted a Firebird when she grew up. "Anyway... how are your talks with the vampaneze going?"

Aadela thought he hesitated. "They're going good. Slow, as usual, but good." Kurda seemed a little tense as he spoke, but Aadela dismissed it as her imagination.

"Any progress? Anything new?"

"Progress is happening, but very gradually. More vampaneze than ever have become sympathetic to my aim. Of course, it's still not enough... and might never be." He added bleakly. Aadela had a vague thought that it wasn't only about the number of vampaneze who were accompanying him Kurda was speaking about, but also about something darker.

"Don't worry." Aadela patted his arm. The look - a look of thanks, friendship and understanding - he gave her when she did so delighted her. "Everything will be fine one day or the other. Besides, it's time for the vampires to start stepping forth to help you." She added firmly. They walked side-by-side, holding each other's hands for support and grip, and Aadela held his tightly. They walked on in silence. It was a long time before either of them spoke.

"This is bad!" Kurda exclaimed.

"What's bad?" Aadela asked curiously and walked to his side. She was about to take a step further, when he pushed her back with his arm.

"Be careful!" He said. "There is a gushing stream below, and mind you, it's powerful."

"What shall we do?"

"Best head back..." Kurda thought aloud to himself "Though I want to continue on. And there is a small sort of ledge, in between the two cliffs here... It'll be difficult, but not dangerous to cross it, I think." Then, he turned back towards Aadela and spoke to her, "I think you should head back, Aadela. It's very risky for you. Just follow the way back to the second marking from here, and then follow this map here." Kurda gave Aadela a map.

"I'm not going." Aadela bit her lip and looked him in his eye. "I'm bored and that has made me reckless and I'm ready to try something new and get my adrenaline pumping."

"Aadela, but -" Kurda began, concerned.

"No, Kurda." Aadela cut him short. "You've helped me a lot and done so much for me; time for me to do something for myself." When he didn't look convinced, Aadela took his hands in her own. "Please?" she begged, "Please? For me?"

Kurda removed his hands from her grasp and held one of them at the side of her head, "If you die, I'll tell Cher you committed suicide, okay?"

Aadela nodded numbly, dizzied with the mad rush of the adrenaline and the excitement pulsing through her at several things.

"I'll go first." saying so, Kurda took a step towards the ledge. The wall jutted out, slimy and slippery, and the roar of the river played a magnanimous role in tampering with your balance. He tapped his foot to see if the area was secure, and picked up a small rock and threw it mid-way the ledge. Kurda examined it eagerly from afar, then looked back at Aadela, "It's safe."

He moved very cautiously, tapping his foot several times on the area ahead of him. When he got midway, he kicked the rock out of the way, and his sense of balance slipped slightly. He manouvered his hands well across the wall, and Aadela took in some pointers. He didn't look anywhere, except at the ledge and at the wall, but didn't do so frequently for fear of being dizzied from the constant movement. After plenty of minutes, he was through, and Aadela found one kind of fear and anxiety subsiding in her whilst the other kind kicked into life. Kurda beckoned to her. "It's scary-looking and all, yes, but not too hard." He panted. "I'm damn sure you can do it. Come on! And remember, I'm here for you."

Aadela exhaled and moved on. She gingerly tapped her foot on the ledge, and after doing so for the umpteenth time, she took a step forward. Instantly, the full might of her deathly stunt struck her, and she almost fell in the haste to get back. But a voice inside her whispered,_ Beyond fear, lies victory_. That kept her going. Still unsure of herself, she blocked out the growls of the river and spread her hands across the wall. There was a dirt pocket somewhere, so she thoroughly rubbed the dirt on her hands.

It wasn't easy at all: her balance kept slipping and her hand-work was a little sloppy. But mid-way through, Aadela finally mastered the ordeal, and he work became almost as good as Kurda's. She was about three quarters of her way, when she moved her hand and caught hold of something leathery. Surprised to feel a different touch other than rocks' and lithchens', Aadela looked up, and before she could realise it, a nesting bat was flying right towards her. She opened her mouth to scream, but the bat's left wing slid into her mouth slightly, and she stumbled to her right unsteadily and leant backwards. Aadela's hands were grazed, and her feet sloppily collapsed on one another and she found herself devoid of everything, instead of a constant ringing noise - the noise of _death_.

Her eyes were shut steadfast, and her hands were sweating. Her feet dangling in thin air and the restlesness of her hands began to slowly, menacingly push her towards the river. Her heart was thumping as if to make up for the years she would never live. She was cold all throughout, yet sweating. But just as when she was finally severed away from life, she felt her body warm and encased.

She didn't realise how long she stayed that way, but her heart did slow down and gave the way to sobbing. "Oh... Oh!" She sobbed bitterly into the enclosure she was in. She sobbed for some time, and then looked around, with eyes till streaming, to the enclosure who was supporting her. She felt ready to collapse, but she was held up straightly very firmly, but gently. She took some time to identify this enclosure and couldn't be more ecstastic when she realised it was Kurda.

"Shh!" He comforted her, rubbing her back and hair lightly. "Everything's okay - you're okay! That's what matters."

"You... you...s-s-saved me."

"Anyone would have done the same," Kurda replied simply, "Charna's guts, what would I have had to tell Cher if you died? What would I do to myself if you died? I couldn't live with myself, that's for sure!" He abruptly cut short. They stayed like that for a very long time till Aadela had sorted herself out. She looked at him straight in the eye, when her sobbing had more or less stopped and the initial shock was over. He looked right back at her, and she felt herself going eerily still... not because of fright, but because of something else...

She leaned further into him, and both of them appreciated the other's closeness to them. He rested his chin on her head, and she buried her head in his chest. Thoughts rushed by... of past emotions and passions and infatuations, neither of which had not made her heart beat so thunderously for a particular person. She thought of all the hugs she received in her life, and then of one hug which was the hug of eternal friendship and understanding, and possibly, even love... _Darren's hug_. It came as a brutal slap to her entire body at the same time, and Aadela was overcome by the need to stop hugging Kurda. She removed her arms from around him slowly so as not to alarm him or make him feel too bad.

Her head was burning, and slight tears of shame were forming in her eyes. She looked down and couldn't respond. She'd high values of fidelity, loyalty and love and she was confused about them now, when she looked back slightly hungrily over to the pleasure she got in Kurda's arms.

"I'm sorry." Kurda whispered, aghast. She could hear the shame and sorrow in his voice.

"No... please don't!" She looked him in the eye again, but it was painful this time. She was torn between her present pleasure, and the pleasure of three years before. "It's not your fault... never was... just... let's forget this... please..."

They'd continued on in silence and she'd contemplated everything very closely. By the time she reached back to her room, exhausted, divided, bruised and grimy, she'd arrived on one conclusion:  
_Three years are enough to alter the strongest of bonds..._


	25. Arrivals

Aadela felt she could chirp if she merely tried. _The vampires had begun coming in for the Council! _The past three or so months had been busy, and were steadily becoming busier. The kitchens had become more active, and everyone more or less kept quiet to themselves whilst rubbing the eyes from the tears forming from the vapours of burning spices and fat, unless they had to bark out orders. Seba was seen almost flitting from one Hall to another, organizing resources and his assistants (including herself) moved around the entire Mountain with him.

Aadela always collapsed on her mattress or hammock (depending on whichever came her way first), pale with exhaustion. But that didn't mean she didn't enjoy - she was loving it. She'd always been a person who never liked to get bored. She didn't like to be too busy too, but always wanted at least a simple job - any form of relaxation included - when she was idle. She hopped from her room, excited as she was everyday, and made her way to the Hall of Osca Velm. Every new day meant a refreshed and stronger possibility of Darren arriving.

There were again, some new arrivals, and she went upto them with barrels of meat and loaves and jugs of water and blood and greeted them. She stayed there as long as her time allowed her to, and then moved on to Seba and then the kitchens. Keyesha (a vampiress in the kitchens) would ask her almost everyday the reason she kept smiling and humming to herself, to which Aadela replied with winks, twisted riddles and goofy smiles, which drove the vampiress mad.

She skipped back to her room: that's how her night ended. Or she dragged herself. Once, she'd been so tired, that she'd collapsed on the floor and would've kept sleeping until one of the guards had woken her up!

* * *

Aadela quietly strolled through the caverns of the Mountain. The Halls of Sports were full all night, many a times even till midday. She stopped around a few minutes or so, to take in the view of something interesting that was happening, or to talk with one or the other of some of her vampire friends, or simply to relax. She was having a free-day today, and didn't mind: the only thing she minded was the lack of popcorn whilst she watched vampires engaging in all sorts of sports activities. Often, she would analyse the performances of vampires with Vanez Blane, like the cricket commentators.

She herself engaged in many of the sports. Her favourite were the bars, throwing daggers at bullseyes, fencing or swordcraft and martial arts matches. She had attained many victories in each of these, and was many a times asked by some to challenge Arra Sails on the bars. At such times, she would contain her horror to herself, excuse herself for some or the other reason, and would only return after ten-fifteen minutes to the Hall, by which time the vampires were cheering or jeering for someone else.

Today, after a merry conversation with Vanez, Aadela left the noise of the Halls, and began her walk again. She chose a pathway to a series of small caverns which ultimately led to the Hall of Corza Jarn - the Hall where Generals often trained. She was having a strange urge to fight today, and hence wasn't surprised when someone passed a statement behind her - "I didn't think I would rush into you here."

Aadela turned around in her elegant manner - something which she'd picked up involuntarily during her various years of training. The statement didn't surprise her, but somehow the speaker did. "What are you doing here?"

"Why, to see how Generals are training, of course!" Kurda replied, amused. The last year and a half had been awkward, but there was no enimity or loss of frienship amongst them, even if Aadela prefered to keep out of his way. She tried hard, but didn't get successful as many times as her trials, for back then, the Mountain used to be almost empty.

A smile slapped itself on her face effortlessly, and Kurda continued. "You're very chirpy these days. Is someone you know coming?"

Aadela took a step towards him, smiling fondly when she thought of the person who would be coming. It'd never occured her mind that Darren might not come at all. It was possible, but Aadela knew it that he would definitely come, as they'd talked a lot about it in the Cirque. "Yes." she replied softly.

"Who?" he too asked softly.

Aadela hesitated for a split second, before the fond smile became a grin and her cheeks two pools of red from the blushing. "Darren Shan." she cooed.

"Ah, I see." Kurda replied. "Very well, I've to go now. Work, you know. Have a good evening!" He smiled and went back through a different set of tunnels.

Aadela, disappointed that he was leaving without having a full conversation with her, called back to him. "Hey Kurda!"

He turned around, still smiling. Aadela often wondered about how much he could smile at almost everyone with genuine affection. "Yes?"

"Congratulations for your vote for your investiture!"

"Thanks a lot, Aadela!" He gave her a final fleeting smile, and walked away very quickly.

* * *

"Aadela!" Someone called.

"I'm coming!" She spoke loudly. Hurrying over with the barrels of meat and bread and jugs of drinks, she ran to serve the new arrivals. _Phew! It's a busy day!_ She thought to herself. There had been more than three dozen new arrivals today, and she'd a good mind to plop down the enormous jugs of water down _her _throat.

She made her way over to the single new arrival. It was a painful job, keeping track of those who'd come, those who had to be served and those who required something else, especially amidst the noise and stench in the Hall. Aadela gruffly put the barrels in front of him and gave him the jugs.

"Here you go!" she said briskly. He looked tired and anxious. He looked up when she arrived and let out a small gasp. She looked up from the barrels and her gaze became startled and cold.

"Well, well, well. Long time no see." She commented bitterly.

"Have my eyes gone wrong? Or have you really grown up so much and become so pretty - actually, glamourous, for a vampire!" the vampire who adressed her mused. Aadela remembered his face both fondly and bitterly. Fondly, because he was family, and bitterly, for he so cruelly left her to her own devices.

Aadela lightly ruffled her hair. "Time has been too generous to you, Cher." She snarled. She was happy to see him, but she wasn't going to show it. "Far more generous than it was to me."

"Aadela -" Cher began, but was interrupted as someone else too shouted her name.

"Just a second, Jern!" She replied and turned to face Cher again.

"I've made my peace, Cher, by making myself useful. I don't have a desperate need for you now. You can still be my mentor and cousin, but I'm not going to even think about even cajoling you to be so if you still want to stay away from me."

"You still hold a grudge against me for those times, don't you?" He asked wistfully.

"Yes." she replied, her expression and voice hard. "I still love you, cousin, but I'm never going to forget or maybe even forgive your dismissal."

"I wanted freedom, Aadela! I'm still young and not experienced to have an assistant! I'm fine on my own!" Cher replied agitatedly.

"Then you shouldn't have sacrificed your freedom." Aadela retorted.

"We've been through this before." Cher replied patiently, but gritted his teeth.

"Aadela, what are you doing, chit-chatting with vampires! Get to work now!" The vampire named Jern appeared around to their table.

"This is my colleague-in-blood, Jern. Let me be with him for sometime." She persuaded.

"Whoever he may be, you ought to get to work!" Jern growled. "Vampires are streaming in and here you are, exchanging plesantries and -"

"Shut up!" Aadela and Cher snapped at the same time, and Jern retreated, confused, but not before casting a black look over at her.

"Returning to the topic," Aadela said, noticibly calmer, "We both have faults like anybody else. You made a mistake and I might've been more than unreasonable."

"It was majorly my fault, Aadela." Cher replied sadly. "And it is only right that I apologise. I'm very sorry for my injustice and lack of understanding towards you, Aadela."

"Alright, Cher." she sniffed. "I forgive you, but I can't forget these events. I'm sorry too, if that's any consolation." She cracked a shaky, but genuine smile and extended her hand.

Cher shook it and looked up at her tenderly. "Let's be friends and happy cousins again." He whsipered and pulled her to him in a warm embrace. She hugged him lightly, but loosened herself soon.

"Friends, cousins, whatever." She replied a little stiffly. "I've to go. Jern will probably be planning my execution on the stakes now." She smirked and went to move away.

"Aadela!" Cher called out suddenly. She turned around and went up to him. "This is for you." he said, handing her a soft, brown parcel.

"What's this?" she asked quietly with some interest, but inside she was quivering with joy. _Presents! _she thought gleefully.

"It's a dress I bought for you..." He replied, slightly awkward. "I want you to wear it during the Festival of the Undead; if it happens, that is."

"Thanks alot, Cher!" She smiled ever so slightly and walked away with the parcel in her hands.

* * *

**Yea! We're at Vampire Mountain now! I'd to build some story and drama up, as I can't very drastically jump three-four years, so I chose some small tit-bits. Anyhow... My Darren's gonna come soon! And I'm so happy today, not only because Darren is coming (to me, I hope) but me and my friend who happens to be a Cirque Du Freak fanatic like me, have completed some pages on Kurda Smahlt in her scap-book which is entirely devoted to vampires. Yes, I'm a cuckoo, but you probably already know that.**


	26. The first kiss

There was someone down this tunnel - a tunnel which wasn't very frequently used, at that. It was right in the open, and joined some of the General's and their assistants' chambers to a cavern which branched off to other such areas, but this tunnel just for some reason wasn't very frequently used. Aadela could sense it from the movement of the shadows and the large padding sound created by the feet, tramping on the rock heavily. Aadela guessed they might be new to the Mountain: vampires who'd had experience of the life and comings and goings in the Mountain walked with much more ease and discretion.

But something caused Aadela to stop in her tracks. Her jaw dropped and she gawked at the figure before her, still oblivious to her presence. Without any further ado, she charged.

* * *

Darren Shan had been walking too long to give up: he was going to see where this blasted tunnel ended. Well, he hoped he would be able to see where this tunnel ended, and that it would be a fair place full of vampires. Soon, dull, small patches of light appeared on the walls, formed by the reflection of the light from one slimy, wet wall to another. Darren knew there was nobody besides him in this tunnel, but even if there was, he couldn't be cared less. Suddenly, before he could even blink, someone charged towards him and held him in an iron grip. He was too stunned to feel the pain or anger; he simply leaned on, as the grip became more gentle but passionate.

He numbly took in the bundle which had both enclosed him and was enclosed by him: it had hair - long, slightly wavy and rich... a definite shape - slim, fit and graceful figure... a smooth touch to itself. Darren realised with a shock that it was a person!

"Oh, Darren! It really is you!" the person - now that his shock was dissipating, his senses were returning which told him that it was a girl - whimpered. The person broke away and Darren very vaguely took in the girl's face. She was young - his age - and something about her was too familiar. But much had changed about her too, he could make that out. Her eyes which were dark blue, had definitely paled to a slightly brighter blue. They were still dark - close to black - but one could make out more clearly now that she had blue eyes. Her hair - a beautiful brown - had blossomed into a striking and very pretty dark brown. Her complexion, which made her look like a naturally coloured person, had now paled slightly, to make her other colour-changes to look more striking.

Her lips, which were in a nice, straight line had become fuller. And her nose had become sleeker from the bridge, and gentler as it curved out. The shape of her face - an oval - was more detectable, but that was probably due to the fact she had drawn back the hair from the forehead and pinned them behind to create a puff of hair. And she was taller: as tall as him.

Darren felt surprised at how well he could detect the changes in this mysterious girl. But then he looked into her very expressive eyes and he remembered in a flash who she was: _Aadela Felix_!

He hadn't thought he would meet her again like this. Well... he'd hoped against hope to hold her in his hands again. He'd even vowed that he would kiss her full on the lips, without any fear or hesitation, as had happened with Debbie! And now here she was... shedding tears of joy (he hoped!) in his arms... looking more a lady than he remembered her to be - and a very pretty lady, at that!

Darren placed his hands on her shoulders and withdrew her slowly from him. His eyes darted about her face very quickly, taking in greater detail all the changes in her and came to rest at her lips. She was doing the same, and a soft, happy and slightly coy smile played on her lips. They looked into each other's eyes for another few moments, before their heads suddenly darted forward and their lips crashed onto the other's.

Aadela kissed him with longing and sweetly, and he kissed her back with equal passion and joy. Her hands made his way to his shoulders and settled at the back, drawing him closer and his hands did the same, enclosing her body in his. Their kiss lasted for a little less than a minute, and when they broke free, they rested their heads on the other's shoulders in quiet contentment. Aadela's first thought was - _Darren kissed me!_ which was followed by - _This was my first kiss... this was my _first _kiss!_ Both the thoughts were magical and set her heart beating with a newer and quicker frequency.

When they broke free from the hug, they studied each other and Aadela's eyes darted down one second then darted upto his face.

"Well, well, well..." Darren whistled softly and smiled, "Who would have thought of such a beautiful welcome, that also by none other than _Aadela Felix_!"

"Why, were you expecting some more vampiresses to come and kiss you?" Aadela too spoke softly, and both of them laughed lightly. Then, giving him a playful punch, she added, "What took you so long, you moron?" As she said this, her finger ran along his face, tracing its outline, cheekbones and jaws.

"I was waiting till you became more beautiful." Darren looked in her eyes. "And the result is as sweet as sugar: you are more beautiful than ever..."

Aadela shared another look with him, blushing. She leaned into him again, and they shared another little kiss.

* * *

**I'm so jealous of Aadela right now... want to smash her head into the wall and take my place as Darren's rightful girlfriend. Anyway, I was smiling like an idiot the entire time I was writing this and I hope it's not too corny. If it is... (switches on loud music and listens intently) :P. I'll be breezing through books 4 and 5, as Aadela hasn't got much to do there, but book 6 will be a major one. **

**And one more thing... Darren's and Aadela's age in the beginning (before they became halfs) was 14. So right now too, their age is the same as the other (22). Darren Shan mentioned only in book 7 (I think) that Darren was 12 when he was blooded, but as I'd already started this story with 14 year olds, I'm gonna stick to it.**


	27. Small instances

Dear Diary

My hand is quivering as I write this diary entry. No, wait - change that to _quaking. _I've become a girl who has found herself again and am, if not completely like I used to be, more than a ghost of my previous self. Heck! I'm giddy with delight! Floating with excitement! Falling in love! Wait - _have fallen_ in love! Or better still - have fallen _deeper_ in love! With whom? With that handsome rogue of course... that brave, funny, noble rogue - _Darren Shan_...

YES! My lover, my friend, my supporter is back to me! I can never forget the feel of his arms around me, hands stroking my back, enclosing me completely in him... I barged right into him, and that boy - he gently pushed me away from him, ran his amazing eyes all over my face and _kissed me full on the mouth with love, passion and sweetness par excellence!_

It was my first kiss - and I'm darn sure that no kiss ever will be able to match it. The love with which he looked at me... the passion with which he kissed me... the delight which he invoked in me... I can fall in love with him ten times and always remain surprised at how lucky I am to have such a boy as my... forget it! I've mentioned that anything which I don't tell anyone else will go down in you, but there are _some _things, which I won't even tell you...

Don't feel bad, Diary! I'll tell you how he looks now - his hair are darker, and cut short to make him look... well... sexy? Yes, sexy. And he's grown much taller since I last saw him, and I'm his height now. His dark brown eyes are as lively as ever and his lips have an easy time being expressive. He looks so handsome especially when he purses them up in a straight line! And he has a very slight roman nose now... probably happened while he was cheeking Creepy Crepsely or maybe when Murlough had captured him, for I might not have noticed it then. His cheekbones are higher, and set a fullness - but not roundness or puffyness - to his face. And the way his hair casually fall over his forehead work wonders with his eyes to give him a very intelligent look.

Dear diary, you can't even dream about the extent of my joy. What do you know of love, besides the love of an avid writer? But I hope one day, that my life will spill out in so many more diaries that you finally get to meet other sections of my life and, who knows, fall in love with them. Toodles!

AFadela

* * *

"Uh-uh-aaaaah!" Aadela was lucky she didn't ram her nose into the floor or break her arms as she prevented her fall. Even so, it did hurt, that also falling from a hammock. Someone had shaken her awake as she slept upside down on the hammock, fully stretched all across it and she'd bolted upright, which was an unwise thing to do. Before she could muster her balance, she found herself rolling to one side, and finally, falling on the floor.

"Hey, Aadela, you got hurt?" Someone asked, concerned. Aadela, after getting over from the shock, spluttered and swept her hair out of her eyes, and slowly turned around to see who was speaking.

"What _the hell _do you think you're doing?" she spluttered indignantly, as she warily hoisted herself up, and glared around at not one, but two people in her room: Darren and Kurda.

"Kurda's taking me on a tour of the Mountain. Want to join us?" Darren asked and gave her a slight peck on the cheek. She went slightly rigid but warmed down quickly. It was still new; the feeling of being loved as a lover.

"And why may I?" Aadela asked, still slightly ruffled, but delighted to see Darren nevertheless.

"Suit yourself." Darren shrugged. "By the way, I would like you to come. Please?" He begged.

Aadela groaned and gave him a punch - a sign of acceptance.

* * *

They'd gone around the Mountain. Yet Aadela's mind was only half-present. She acted along Kurda while he made Darren believe that bat broths contained bone stocks, and had shared a great laugh and a high-five with him. Yet when she'd looked at him closely, she shied away, for she didn't want something else to arise while her love was blossoming... she knew that it was only a matter of time before she drived herself confused to the limit about her desires.

When Darren's little tour had been completed, they'd idly traversed the caverns of the Mountain. Suddenly, on an impulse, she spoke up, her voice coming out cagily, "When I was younger... and human," she added painfully, "We - that's me and my family - loved to go around to museums.

"Mummy and daddy loved showing me and Saiansh around, and we loved taking in something new. We would have quizzes... questions... boastings... and nice lunches afterwards. We, I especially, loved the grandeur, the crisp, cool environment of the museums and the delights in knowledge, art, and many more amazing things they offered... and here you are, seeing and showing Vampire Mountain as if it were a museum and its caverns different sections of the museum!" Her voice broke down to a croak, and she covered her face, not wanting to let the other two see her cry.

"You still miss your family, don't you?" Darren hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear.

"Of course I do!" She snapped, but much of her tone got lost in Darren's shirt. Though still not entirely composed, but not crying anymore, she said as she detached herself, "I would've given you up for my previous life and family and friends, Darren. What about you?"

He never answered her, and she waited for a little time before she excused herself and walked away, forlorn. Till this date, Aadela wants to know the answer.

* * *

**Awww! Killers of the Dawn is coming to an end. And some news...Crepsely's dead! lol. I won't say much on that, very thin ice there, especiall one of my most avid reviewers - christineex - is a Crepsely-fangirl. And hey, you've been too good to me and my story, C, so extend your mercy even when I write "Creepy Crepsely".**

**lol**


	28. Fight for Worth

_The Trials of Death... how could any creature in the universe be _so _brutal, excruciating and savage?_ Aadela asked herself as she cupped her face with one hand and watched Darren closely whilst he talked to Gavner and Kurda.

"How come you never had to pass the Trials?" Darren asked her morosely.

"Cher had a reason to change me." She replied more coldly than she'd intended to. "He changed me because he actually wanted to protect me."

"Why're you replying so coldly?" Darren couldn't help but snap.

"I'm replying like that because..." Aadela began with her voice slightly raised, but trailed off. Anger management - something which she still had to learn. "Forget it." she completed, much meeker than before. She got up awkwardly and lightly ruffled his head and scurried away. What she didn't tell him was this - _I'm replying like that because if I hadn't become a stupid half-vampire, I wouldn't have to watch you, being dealt death. _When she reached her chamber, she replayed a certain memory:

~Oo~Oo~Oo~

"What are you doing?" She'd casually sauntered up in Darren's room.

"Nothing." Darren murmered. "Writing my diary, that's all."

"So you're a diary writer?" Aadela asked, her interest pipping up. "When I was younger, I used to think diary-writing a waste of time and a useless job. Now that I've only time in my hands, it's become a passion."

"I was writing about the time when I ran into you in the tunnels of the Mountain... and about that museum incident..." Darren shrugged.

"Ah! So you write about me? What've you written?" Her eyes were shining.

"I'm not going to show it to you!" Darren teased.

"You're not going to show what's related to me?"

"Yes - but -" Darren trailed off.

Aadela laughed. "I was just pulling your leg, silly. A diary is as private as your own mind can be."

"I'll read out some excerpts to you." Darren responded, and began reading aloud. Aadela was grinning like an idiot: Darren had written so lovingly about her.

"Darren!" Aadela snuggled up to him and gave him a big, fat kiss. "You're so sweet!"

"I know, right?" Darren leaned in. They sat like that for a long time, until Aadela piped up.

"There's something I want to tell you, though."

"What?"

"I'm flattered you love me so much. And flattered that you've written so extensively about me in your diary - even describing how I look! - but I've this odd request - don't make me a part of these written words."

"Why? What's wrong with that?" Darren asked.

"Nothing much." Aadela flipped her hair back. "I just don't want to be tied down by words. Besides, I think you'll always remember me in your heart. And you may treat it as a test of time."

Darren nodded seriously, and they clung together again.

~Oo~Oo~Oo~

* * *

_The Aquatic Maze_. This was not only about knowing how to swim, but also a complex memory game. Aadela's pulse was racing with every passing minute. Cher was squeezing her hand tightly, but she couldn't and didn't pay him any attention. And when he finally came up... the only thing which stopped her from kissing him full on the mouth was the fact that he needed some air.

* * *

_The Path of the Needles_. Tricky, tricky, tricky, tricky. Very tricky. When he finally emerged, Aadela had only one thing to say to him.

"You imbecile! You nut-job! Stuffing _dirt _in your wounds!"

"I did it to stop my hands from being slippery from all that blood!" Darren protested tiredly.

"I know!" Aadela gave him a quick kiss. "You actually make it possible for an imbecile like you to be resourceful and smart."

* * *

"I've been waiting for the Festival of the Undead for so many ages!" Aadela gushed excitedly, pinning up the last strands of her hair into a stately bun.

"I hardly feel anything besides itching." Darren moaned.

"Quit your yapping, tell me how I look!" Aadela was wearing the dress Cher had gifted to her on his arrival: it was a lovely, flowy gown with long sleeves and was light blue in colour. It's only designing was at the hems and at the waist, of vines of leaves and small flowers and miniature spring creatures, done up in golden, red, white and green threads.

"You look like a diva." Darren commented, absolutely serious. He couldn't take his eyes off her.

"Thanks." She replied, turning her face away to hide her blush. They made their way to the Hall of Starhvos Glen, and attended the opening ceremony. Afterwards, it was all utter chaos. Aadela was constantly laughing as she ducked here and there to avoid stampedes of impatient, brusque vampires. Suddenly, someone grabbed her and pushed her forward. Aadela resigned herself, but was inwardly begging that the game to which she was being put up to wasn't going to be too painful.

She found herself on the bars... with none other than... Cher. He was as surprised as her to see her.

"Since it's the Festival of the Undead, we've a special version of the bars - instead of staffs, you play with swords!" an already drunken vampire slurred and was greeted by enthusiastic cries. _Great, they're already drunk!_ Aadela thought to herself, revolted.

"And here we have our favourite General, Cher!" the crowd burst to higher cheers. "Battling his assistant - Aadela Felix!" By now, almost half the vampire population had turned up. Aadela wished Cher not to be so popular. She searched for familiar faces, and saw Darren charging his way through with many others and Kurda behind him. She caught the sword thrown to her, felt it, and withdrew from the bars.

She stared back defiantly at Cher. _This is my moment to prove myself to Cher. He'll get the fight of his life_. Aadela thought to herself. She was wearing sandals, and she removed her right foot and pushed the right sandal back, and did the same with the other side, with the left sandal right next to the right one. Then, she walked on the bars, daintily, with the gown restricting her movement but only slightly. She knelt down to Cher, inclined towards the left side, but kept her head high. Rising up with a grace unmatched, she swiftly brought her sword slightly below her line of vision.

Her fists were facing her, but she removed her right hand, and brought it down on the sword, finger by finger, in the opposite direction, and with a fluid jerk, unsheathed a part of the sword with her left hand. Cher, who'd been silently observing this while maintaining his position on the bars, clutched his already unsheathed sword in both his hands and pointed it towards Aadela, keeping the handle at the side of his head. Slowly, slowly, Aadela removed the scabbard and drew the last of it away from the sword. She knelt slightly and pointed both the scabbard and the sword towards Cher. All this time, she was staring nowhere but at Cher.

Suddenly, Cher sprinted forward and attacked, sword matching with sword. Thrusts, defense, jerks, twists and turns - all were constantly accompanied by clangs. Aadela used her scabbard as a shield. She turned around to avoid connecting with his sword and slashed viciously across his sword with both the scabbard and her sword as defense, causing Cher to jump back from the force. He arched towards her, whilst she bent low, and flexed her wrists to get the sword and scabbard in the desired direction.

She raised herself up, and surveyed him coolly. He hopped lightly towards her, eyeing her warily, and she brought down her tools by her side. Before he could react, she slashed her sword towards him, and then her scabbard and then again, the sword, as he only defended himself. She advanced towards him with each parry, but then placed her scabbard right in front of his range of attack, which he once and for all broke into half. It was Cher's turn to take the offensive front, as he moved the sword with only one hand in the upward direction, forcing her to take a step back into a defensive and warning stance, with her sword held high above her head and the broken scabbard still in her hand held at a right angle.

Smirking slightly, she lowered her sword and flipped the scabbard in her fingers and dropped it down with emphasis. She looked slightly menacing, as their swords crossed each other, with each sword striving hard for dominance. One time she would push Cher backward, the other time it would be the other way round and so on. The effort clearly showed on both their faces, and each passing second both of them were huffing up more and more. And then she found herself ducking and almost tumbling down in the effort to save herself.

Cher swung his sword hysterically at her, not hoping to injure her but to throw her off balance. He brought down his sword and Aadela twisted her face only in time, but dropped her sword in turn. Cher paused, and she was left with her legs straddled around a bar. She got up slowly, removing the hair out of her face, and realised that Cher had managed to get a swing at her clips and bands. _Great, open hair, as if such an idiotic dress wasn't enough! _Aadela thought furiously.

She saw with her peripheral vision, that her sword had collapsed on a parallel but slightly far set of bars. At least it was still on the bars! Cher took advantage of her lack of attention towards him, and charged. Aadela waited till he was pretty close enough, and then darted onto the other set of bars. Cher followed her quickly and kept chasing her till she arrived at her destination. Cher lashed his sword wildly and Aadela fell straight on the bar she was on, and her sword got pushed right behind where her head was. During her fall, she managed to trip Cher, who landed heavily on top of her. She spread her arms away, got hold of the sword in her hands and butted Cher with the handle.

He staggered back, rubbing his head. This time, Aadela charged towards him, and he put his sword across his chest just in time. He was losing his balance and Aadela was towering above him, whilst they still blocked each others' swords. Cher managed to bang his head on hers, but hit her nose instead. Aadela grunted with the pain, and wiped off the blood, but the adrenaline distracted her from much of the pain. It was not only the adrenaline, but also the hurt his words had caused. She hadn't forgiven Cher entirely, and she would only forgive him completely when she won. She would win. And she _had_ to win.

He then hit her hard on the leg, and she stumbled back. Cher rose up, wiped his brow, and they both met each other in an aerial kick, and both managed to fall down, again. Aadela shook her head like a hysterical animal, but arranged herself up again with her sword, and they locked themselves in the same position, only this time, it was Aadela who kicked Cher. He kept ducking out of her way, whilst she angrily lashed her sword at him, and was finally left lying between 2 bars, holding onto both of them for support.

"Please remember, Aadela," Cher panted. "That I'm your cousin!"

This caused Aadela to pause for a moment. And that moment was the only one which she gave to Cher to recover himself - which he gladly seized - for after that she dangerously sweeped her sword very close to his face, as disregard for what he said. She went on with her rampage, and it was quite some time before she slowed down and Cher kicked her hard with a loud war-cry, and darted off to get his sword which had fallen somewhere else.

Aadela groaned miserably and got up wearily. She looked around slowly, and saw Cher still searching for his sword. There was a good deal of luck on her side today, for her sword still lay on the bars, and she skipped and held it in her hands, and went to meet Cher's challenge. Cher was returning back, triumphantly, with the sword in his right hand, but stopped short with shock when he saw Aadela looking coolly up at him, turned slightly towards the left, with the sword by her side. He shifted slightly in his feet.

"I never thought you'd fight so well." Cher remarked.

"I guess that makes you a liar now, doesn't it?" Aadela asked calmly, but bloody murder glinted in her eyes.

"Liar for what?"

"Liar for calling me unworthy... not fit enough... not able enough... not _good_?" Aadela pranced, her voice husky. "Well, I've news for you, Cher: I'm _very, very good._"

"Yes, but it's still not enough." Cher commented. "Why do you have so much hatred in you? I've apologised and you forgave me, right?"

"I told you I might forgive you, not forget." Aadela retorted. "Besides, I forgave you only for leaving me. Not for demoting me. Too bad you took it the wrong way. _I'm sorry_."

"Too bad." Cher muttered. "Too bad, that I'm going to best you."

"No, you aren't." Aadela spoke softly, but the menace and the danger her soft tone screamed was hard not to hear. "You're going to lose. And if not today, then tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then some day, Cher, _I swear I will literally defeat you - so badly, that you'll be shamed to pieces."_ Aadela swore.

"And on that day, I'll swear never to think of you wrongly again." Cher retorted back, and signalled the end of the exchange of abuses before the battle.

Aadela raised her sword and wielded it in both hands, crouching, whereas Cher wielded it right by his side. They glared at each other for a long time, before Aadela finally let out a deafening war cry and charged towards Cher. Their times coordinated, and they met half-way through their charge. They held their swords against each other again, but the force each of them applied caused them to swivel around to the opposite direction. Her eye met his' and for the first time, her eye showed worry. She put one foot back, jerked her sword out of the fight, twisted it around, slashed her sword clean across his forehead and finally held the blade in her hands and butted Cher as hard as she could with the handle. All this in not more than 15 seconds.

Cher dropped his sword in pain and shock, but the real deal came when she butted him. He looked at her, his eyes going fuddled up, and then fell off the bars. Aadela was suprised to find something solid right below her, when she realised that she had fallen as well, and Cher was still clutching on to the bars, though very weakly. Aadela lifted his sword, stretching her hand very slowly, and gave him a few more bruises, after which he finally fainted and fell off the bars.

Her own breathing was erratic and deep, but she somehow stood up with her sword and looked all around, making everyone acknowledge her victory. Barely a second after, she felt the crushing pain all over her body and most brutal in the head, and then fell down, unconscious.

* * *

**Yea, I know it's long. I kinda had a writer's block. Just didn't feel like doing anything.**


	29. Wounds

"You broke your nose, got some beauties on your jaws and head, sprained your right angle and elbow, nearly dislocated your left arm, cuts, cuts and more cuts. And a concussion." Darren replied with a grim smile. "But you fought well."

"Yeah, didn't I?" Aadela murmered, gritting her teeth in agony. Even taking in a breath hurt.

"The medics say you'll be okay enough to walk in three days, two maybe. Which leaves you enough time to heal to come down to watch my third Trial."

"Yeah, cool."

"Rest."

"How's _he_?" Aadela grabbed his arm as Darren got up to leave her room, and her arm stung. Darren looked at her, wondering who was this 'he', when he finally caught on.

"Ch - _he's_ - good... maybe." Darren shrugged. "I don't know him much, but apparently Kurda does. Kurda sure might have paid him a visit. I'll ask him when I next see him and then tell you."

"Okay." Aadela relaxed. "Leave now."

Darren smirked and bowed mockingly and said, "As the queen wishes." And excused himself.

If she could even open her eyes without having them stinging, she would have thrown the pillow nearby.

* * *

Any fighter, especially an emerging or a potential one, however big or small, however experienced or novice, was given quite the honour in the Mountain, and the same held true for her. Vampires patted her back, joked about how deadly she might've become had she been defeated, congratulated her many times over, made space for her, flocked around to talk to her - but Aadela didn't care. It was distasteful, she thought, the ever enthusiastic and ready encouragement towards fights and scars and bruises and in other words, savagery.

But that didn't mean that she wasn't pleased by her victory: she was as ecstatic as hell. She wasn't one to be arrogant about her victory, but neither was she one to be cowed by humility and et cetera et cetera. She hadn't got a chance to meet Cher, and she wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but she wasn't nervous either. The day for Darren's third Trial had arrived, and she was constantly chewing her nails. She bustled into the waiting room, her heart becoming heavier in her chest every passing second. She sat down, her hands unconciously finding a ledge, and she found she was sitting right next to Cher.

"I knew you'd be coming here." He stated, not looking at her. He'd sustained far lesser injuries than her, but his angst at his loss made him look sicker than her.

"Aso." Aadela too didn't look at him. He'd boasted, and she'd given him a taste of his own medicine. She didn't need to do anything more than simply finish the matter, if he brought it up, that is.

"Look, I'm sorry for-" Cher rushed, but was interrupted by Aadela.

"Sorry for boasting?" She still wasn't looking at him, but the heavy sarcasm was more than obvious. "Well, I don't concern myself over that. Those are your worries - whether to boast or to not."

"Will you let me finish?" Cher growled. Aadela wanted to look him straight in the face and shake her head, just for the fun of it, the same fun which she often used to enjoy with her friends, but instead she sat cool and composed.

"As I was saying, I'm sorry for deeming you unworthy, weak... and believing you can't best me."

"You're sorry for thinking all that, but are you actually sorry for _being_ like that? Are you actually sorry for your actions?"

"_Yes, I am._" Cher snarled. "You don't need to make it harder with your attitude."

Aadela slowly turned her head. She looked at him with a deadly combination of malevolence, triumph and sarcasm. Cher dropped his head and held it in his hands in frustration, then jerked it up and grabbed Aadela's hand, which she readily snatched away. There was frustration and desperation on his face. "Look, I didn't mean to -"

"'Course you didn't. Tell you what, you can take your goddamned forgivness if you get off me. Okay? _I forgive you for everything._" Aadela put emphasis on each word. "End of story, no more shit - we're good now."

"Aadela -"

"No!" She barked. "I've forgiven you, now stay off me. Besides, the fifteen minutes are up. I couldn't be less bothered with you." She jumped up, and pushed her way gruffly across the horde of vampires, eager to blast through those doors to see if - _how... _how Darren had fared.

* * *

Aadela couldn't move. She was frozen in time. Around her, everyone else bustled about with some aim or the other, and Aadela's body ached with the strain of being so still, but her mind wouldn't relent. Her eyes could only register that... bundle... in front of her. Charred, blackened, bald, bruised, bloody, pinkish, constantly twitching bundle. And she didn't realise that she was crying, before someone put a hand on her back.

"Shh..." He soothed, and Aadela finally broke in. "Shh... He'll be fine. He's going to be fine. I'm sure of that." Aadela had the vague feeling that it was someone whom she had annoyed merely a few hours before, but she couldn't care. Not with him lying like that.

"Let me do something!" She bawled at the medics in front of her. Instantly someone strode up to her and hugged her. Someone different.

"He needs comfort right now, Aadela. You've got to calm him." She found herself looking up in a pair of eyes lighter in shade than her own. "Apply the wet strips on his forehead; we need to get his fever and fear down."

She set herself to the task religiously.

* * *

Aadela sat reading a book, glancing up at the sleeping form in front of her more than actually reading it. He stirred, and Aadela was almost on top of him instantly. He finally opened his eyes, and Aadela cupped his face upward gently to meet his gaze.

"I - I -" Darren rasped.

"Remember me?" Aadela smiled, and gave his cheeks a peck each.

"Can't forget... you in... a... thousand... lifetimes."

"You're safe now." She strolled her fingers over his face, and he shut his eyes, because of both fatigue and pleasure.

"What... happened?"

"No more of that." Aadela shut him out, with the same benevolence and love radiating even in a rebuttal.

"Water..."

Aadela grabbed the pitcher which lay at a side, took out the small earthen improvisation of a glass from it, which was also used as a lid, and poured some water in it. Very gently and slowly, she raised Darren's head, and with the other hand, tipped the glass in his mouth. When he had had his fill, she wiped the water away from his mouth and set him down again.

"I'm going. But I'll be back soon." She smiled reassuringly and brushed her lips against his.

"No... wait." Darren made an effort to grab her hand.

"Others want to meet you too. I'll be back; I promiss." She waited till he eased again, and went out of the small cell which was his room.


	30. The trail

_He's going to die. And there's _no _fucking thing she could do about it._

_So what, if she was pretty? So what, if she was a good fighter? So what, if she was smart? So what, if she had everything to do the perfect degree, besides a family? __Because it didn't matter anymore... _he _was going to die. And if he died, then the last strands which bound her to this world, which gave her strength to live, anticipation for future, will to kill, would be severed, and she would be left fingering through the collapsing shards of her life, as she slipped away to a nothingness, which even though consisted of _nothing, _but would still be suffocating._

_She couldn't flirt with death. She couldn't fight it. She couldn't outwit it. She couldn't match the otherworldly perfection death held. She could only curse those fiends... those heartless, dishonourable bastards and think of how she could help him. She didn't know her way around. She could get lost. Besides... oh, fuck the 'besides'! _

* * *

"I _will _set it right." Aadela's voice shook as she said it, but it did hold determination.

"No, you can't." Darren replied. His voice was dead. As dead as he was soon to be. "And you won't."

"Why not?" She challenged.

"It's dangerous! What if they find you? What if -"

"Then 'if' it away."

"I implore you."

"Implore away."

Darren made another attempt to protest but Aadela broke in before him. "I'm going to the Princes' Hall, okay? I'll slip away in between, if it takes a turn for the worse."

"At least stay with me."

Aadela stopped and looked at Darren once more. To think, that she may not see his face again... listen him speak... see him fight... watch him slash viciously through peril after peril.

"I've got to go." She stated firmly, and fled before he could see the tears. She hadn't cried in years. And she was doing this for him.

* * *

"The penalty is the same for all - child or man!" one General cried. And Aadela decided she'd had enough.

"How _could_ you?" She hissed, and the Hall became more silent. She stood up, slowly, to retain the attention she'd managed to catch. "Were you a child, how would you have felt if you realised you were going to be dropped on stakes, for merely your innocence and youth, you stony hearted cretin?"

"Don't you dare speak to me like that, girl!" The vampire hissed. "And as for your question, I wouldn't have died without fighting, and if I did deserve it, I would've died with honour!"

"Are you as deaf as much as how dense your little head is?" Aadela shrieked. "I asked you how would you react were you a _child_, not a stupid vampire!"

"Enough!" A female whipped, and Aadela twisted her head to see that it was Arra who had spoken up. "You have no right or position to even think about talking like that to a Hall full of people who have much more brains and title than you, you ignorant little girl! Winning one battle doesn't mean anything; it's only the beginning! And my respected comrades!" She said, turning her back on Aadela contemptuously, "It is our tradition, and much as I dislike it, we have to condemn the boy: we're strong, proud creatures, and anyone who doesn't fit to live like us, has to die."

There was a strong uproar, but Aadela yelled at the top of her lungs. "What if it was Larten, Arra?" She screeched.

"Excuse me?" Arra thundered.

She knew she was asking the bull to take her by its horns, inviting her own death, but she couldn't have cared lesser. She even knew that Creepy Crepsely was himself present in the Hall, but again, she didn't give a damn.

"You heard me." She continued in that strangely high-pitched, malicious voice which was definitely not a part of her. "What if it was him who was in Darren's place? Would you be as persuasive as ever? Would you have an epilogy for him whilst he was dropped at the stakes? Or would you watch with grim, savage satisfaction, hmm?"

"You will shut up, girl, if you do not want to meet the same fate as your friend." Mika ver Leth roared. "Take her away; we can't afford to deal with such idiots right now."

Aadela merely smirked and was carried rather gruffly away by two thug of a guards. She did protest however; not because she was actually angry, but because she had to make it seem genuine. She gave one final nod to Kurda before the doors of the Hall were almost slammed on her face. As soon as she was outside, she was pushed away by a swarm of curious vampires. Not that she cared. No one gave a damn about her, and she could try to find a way out for Darren.

In her desperation, she lost her way, but she finally reached Kurda's room. She would apologise later for breaking into his room. However, she didn't find the need to, as it was already left open. She hurried up to the console where he kepts his maps, but found its drawers everywhere but in their sockets, and the maps looking as if they'd been gruffly picked, examined and dropped. Aadela realised that maybe Darren had escaped on his own. She felt surprised, but hurriedly rushed to her room, gathered her belongings and wrote a small note for Cher:

_I leave under rushed circumstances. I am today who I am majorly because of you. Both good and bad. However, thanks for everything.  
I love you,  
Aadela_

She dropped it into his room and made her way to Darren's, which was quite far off from there. But when she arrived, she saw it was empty: no Darren. She wildly looked around and saw Harkat.

"Harkat!" She said. "Where's Darren?"

"Kurda took... him away... said... he wanted... to... save... his life." Harkat wheezed. Aadela was so impatient and worried that she wanted to shake the answer out of Harkat.

"Where?" She snapped.

"Over...there." He replied and pointed his finger. She nodded curtly and sprung off to that direction. After some time, a small trail of blood was becoming apparent. Aadela only hoped that it was Darren's wounds only. It was a long time and then suddenly, she came to the other side of the river in the Hall of Final Voyage. The trail ended there. In the river. Aadela looked around, mad-eyed, but she saw nothing. No trail. No blood.

* * *

**Sorry for the LATE update. I kinda had a writer's block. We're near the end now. Thanks for reading.**


	31. Frosty coma

"We have searched every inch of the Mountain and beyond, sires. But no sign of the boy." A tracker reported and bowed low.

"Very well." Paris sighed. "We can't do much about it now - if he ever comes up in our sight again, which I doubt he will, he will be justly dealt out his punishment. Besides, we've Kurda's investiture to prepare for."

Aadela sighed. It was old news now, and nobody gave much thought to it. She had begun hiding in one of the many tunnels and caves she knew of in the night, and reappeared during the day when all the vampires were asleep. She had lumbered back from the stream, zombiefied. She was glad that he'd escaped a painful death, but sad that he was most certainly... well, dead, now. When Cher had approached her, she didn't turn him away; she needed him and loved him more now.

He had come to steer her away, and she hadn't minded. "They won't find him." She choked.

"Why won't they?" He asked gently.

"He... he...he fell... in the...river..." Aadela stuttered.

Another night, he'd craddled her head in his lap. She liked it, but she knew that Cher would never touch her in this way save for such an instance. And it reminded her all the more painfully that nothing was going to be normal again.

She'd wandered the caves - mourning, not exploring; she'd splashed her hands in the river - mourning, not pondering; she'd visited the Hall of Osca Velm - mourning, not greeting; she'd hopped up on the bars - mourning, not playing; she'd rustled the pages of his diary - mourning, not reading; she'd hidden from the Mountain - mourning, not observing and she'd held his sword in her hands - thinking, not mourning.

She emptied her little dresser and took out the little which belonged to her: three sets of clothes, comb, brush, her diary, a family photo, a wooden knife gifted to her by Cher on which she'd carved in cursive _Aadela_, a sword, a shield, sleep pills (stolen from God knew where) and surprisingly, a 9mm - the sole reminder of the tragedy. It was empty, she knew, but she could perhaps craft something from wood in place of a metal bullet...

Or maybe drown the entire bottle of pills in her mouth...

Or maybe jump in the river...

Or maybe impale herself...

Or maybe fall from a cliff...

So many options, yet such a wavering will...

* * *

She couldn't take it anymore. The silence. The darkness. The glum. The shouts. All this was outside her, and was punishing enough. But even more punishing than this was her internal condition. The hopelessness. The anguish. The incompleteness. The hole.

She contemplated on what to take: her knife? Her diary? Her photos? Her 9mm? Her pills? Her knife was essential. Her diary was an ugly mix of small joys and vast griefs, yet, it formed a huge part of her. Her photos were painful but that's what had inspired her to live. Her 9mm was more sentimental, yet something she'd been trying to wash the stain of blood from for years; a bit like a more tragic Lady Macbeth. Her pills were also essential.

She decided on one thing: her photo would go first, since it was the first part of her life. Her diary would follow it. And then she herself. She would take the pills, stab herself, and jump in the river. A fool-proof plan to welcome death. Poison from inside, pain from outside, coldness from everywhere. It was a fitting death: a fitting death for a life similar to hers.

She was ready and she wouldn't back down now no matter what. She dropped some pills in her hand, the bottle still half-full. She had her knife prepared and in the other hand. Her photo and diary were ready to be cast away. She popped all the pills in at the same time. They choked her, and her throat was constricted with pain, her face going puffy and tears emerging from her eyes. Then, it passed, and she was left with a very numb and lethargic feeling. She picked up the knife which had slipped from her hands, but as she bent to pick it up, she found herself lying flat on the bank of the river. She weakly clutched at the ground to get up, but she only managed to tire herself further.

"_No!_" her mind wheezed, and she gritted her teeth and finally stood up with the knife in her hands, but her legs were trembling violently. She raised the knife with shaking hands, bringing it into a dangerous arc directed towards her belly, when something broke past her numbness and registered as a boot on her cheek, her nose buried in the dust and her left arm bleeding from a cut.

Her cry of pain changed into a snarl, and she hoisted herself up only to be roughly grabbed by the shoulders and shaken till her teeth were quite literally chattering.

"_What, _by Charna's guts, were you about to do?" A male voice spoke. It was frighteningly angry, and yet very cold.

"Are you blind, you daft ignorant, you barking mad idiot?" Aadela snapped. "One can't even commit suicide in peace..." she mumbled.

"Why?" the man shook her even harder, and Aadela melted with pain in his iron grasp. "Why? All for a boy?"

Aadela stopped protesting, and the man seemed to let her go. She gave him a roundhouse kick, but he caught her foot in mid-air and used it to throw her backwards. She fell on the ground in a heap and lurched into an attacking position, but suddenly she collapsed, and began wailing. She seemed like a five-year old child, covered in mud, crying for a broken toy. All this while she still hadn't managed to identify her saviour (tormentor).

"Not _a _boy... _The _boy..." She cried. "Not only for him... but for everything!" She shrieked and her rage returned. "Who are you, and how dare you decide to play with my life? I can do whatever I want to with my life! If you have a problem, go rot in hell, you sick dog!"

"Don't talk to me like that." The male commanded. "Don't throw all your rage at me; I'm merely doing what is proper. You have no right to be ingrateful for a life for which millions are begging to get a second shot at. You've no right to commit suicide." The man's voice softened.

"And you've no right to preach to me." She snarled.

"I loved him too. But Darren's gone. Dead." the man said wistfully, and mumbled something inaudible. Looking back up at Aadela, he gently lifted her and brushed her clothes down. "Come, let's get you back to Cher."

_Wait. If this is not Cher,_ her mind numbly assimilated, _then who was this?_

"Who - who are you?" She asked, in a gravelly voice. She didn't feel stupid; the pills had been strong enough to numben her senses.

"Kurda." came a reply.

Aadela merely nodded and let herself be half-carried, half-supported by the person who was supposedly Kurda.

* * *

Cher didn't say much to her. He just rubbed her back, stroked her hair, and let her sleep in his room. Any other time, Aadela would've enjoyed it. This time, it just told her how much things were never going to be okay again. When she woke up, she padded back to her room and sat for hours at end, just rubbing her temples. It was the withdrawal after the outburst. Her despair changed to rage, which in turn changed to indifference. She stood up to move on to the waterfalls to have a bath and clear her thoughts, after which, she'd some business to run.

She was just searching for some clothes when Cher burst into her room, anxious. She looked at him with a stony face, then resumed her search. He probably had thought that she'd run off again, and had decided to check here.

* * *

She waited all day for him. All night. All day. All night. And then _finally_, he came. When she saw him, she rushed up to him and hugged him.

"Thanks for saving my life." She mumbled.

Kurda chuckled awkwardly. "It was what anyone would have done." Saying so, he pried her away from him.

She stared back at him, dark blue into sky blue, and then punched him bang on the nose.

"How _dare_ you...?" Kurda growled, clutching his broken nose.

"And that, was my thanks for interfering." She replied icily and stalked away.

* * *

She was drawn more than ever to Kurda. She never dared to tell him, never dared to show him, but it was there nonetheless. She begged internally to get some more attention from him. She begged that he talk to her more. To look at her more. And he did. She got exactly what she wanted, but it was never enough. The more, the better. The more the devil hath, the more he wants. She begged that he didn't talk to her because she needed some sort of help or support, but talk to her because he wanted to.

Often, she used to cringe at such desires. And more so, because she used to like him even before she met Darren again. She remembered talking about his investiture once:

_"What are you going to do after being invested?" It was a cliche question, one many had asked many times before, but she did ask anyway._

_"Oh, many things." He replied casually._

_"Like what? Stop being vague." She had become much more snappy than before._

_"Primarily the relations between us and the vampaneze."_

_"Nothing else?" She asked dubiously._

_"Well, if you practise well, I can get you to be promoted to a General." Kurda smiled._

_"Hmmm..."_

_"Would you like to be one?"_

_"Depends. I'd rather finish my own unfinished business first."_

_"And what would that be?" He inquired politely._

_"Nevermind." She replied distantly._

_They were silent for a while, and then he suddenly spoke._

_"Would it be too wrong, Aadela, to commit an evil for a greater good?"_

_"Depends." She repeated._

_"Would it be too wrong to kill a few, save a lot?"_

_"Depends." She sighed._

_"By Charna's Guts! Will you answer my question properly?" Kurda snapped._

_"Why're you even asking me this? Do you think I care?" Aadela hissed._

_Kurda looked hurt. He turned away, and Aadela felt dull reproach build up inside her._

_"I'm sorry... I do care." She bit her lip. "A bit."_

_"It's all okay, Aadela... It's just hard coming to terms with oneself, that's all."_

_"Do you hate the vampaneze?"_

_She'd never pondered about that question much. Her thoughts about the vampaneze only included the three sons of bitches who destroyed her. She replied slowly, "No... save a few."_

_"Would you like to live peacefully with them?"_

_"As long as I get a hold of three of them."_

_Kurda sighed. "You agree with the ideas of war and all?"_

_"It's shit." _

_It was all she said, and she noticed that there was a strange sense of relief which flooded his face._

* * *

She promised herself that she would smile. Just for him. She didn't feel like smiling, but hell, she wanted to live. She could bully herself into believing that everything would be okay, and that she could make things work, she would actually be able to live. It was just psychological: tell yourself a lie a hundred times, and it will become a truth.

* * *

Aadela was never one for fainting. But amongst the depression and the inconvenience, she found herself running and sprinting and lashing at top speed. She saw wolves, and she saw a ghost. Pale and white. Bald. Truly, a ghost.

The shock, the depression, the inconvenience, the suddenly excitement... it was enough to blast your head to smithereens. She was lucky enough to faint.

* * *

"You're not real." She stated, frost in her gaze, frost in her tone and frost in her eyes. He wasn't real. He who pretended to be Darren. "You're dead."

"But I am! Aadela, Aadela, look at me!" He said frustratedly.

She was glaring at him.

He hugged her. But that wasn't enough to deter her. She wasn't going to fall for that one. She stood, frost in her stance. His warmth engulfed her, and despite her will, she felt the frost melt in the flame.

Slowly, she loosely entwined her arms around him. His response was to only grasp her harder. Before she could realise, he was dragging her. She retaliated heatedly: nails, fists, kicks, bites, pinches and what not. But he kept his distance from her and his hold was tight, but not cruel. Suddenly, she felt frost again: but this time, it was outside her body and mind. The little frost remaining inside her was broken away by the frost outside. And she was dragged out again.

She spluttered and gasped; yanked and shuddered. And then she looked at the hand which still held her.

Darren was back. Darren was alive. Darren was hers...

And she was alive.

* * *

**Hi. So... this was the second-last chapter. The last chapter will, of course, chronicle the last of the Vampire Prince... So.. yeah. Lol**

**Believe it or not, I was crying badly before I wrote the very last part, so I hope it's come out okay. **


	32. Regrets and Respite

**Dedicated to Craving Smiles... enjoy, all!**

* * *

"Why?" She croaked .

He still did not answer.

"Damnit answer me why!" She roared.

He looked up at her. "Are you here to interrogate me? It's all in vain; I'll only speak in my trial."

"Please, please, please, Kurda!" She begged. "_Why_?"

"It was the only thing I could do." He shrugged.

"What? I thought you wanted peace between vampires and vampaneze - not war!" She retorted.

"You don't understand! Nobody understands!" He shouted.

"Then make me!" She screamed back. "Please... make me." She repeated, softly.

"I was quite interested in having you in my plans - a young, fresh, modern yet cultured and smart mind. Plans which involved to achieve peace through chaos. To achieve the crown by a coup. For it was the only way which would be closest to fool-proof and fastest to engage."

Aadela waited for him to continue. When he didn't, she nudged. "Go on."

"No more for now." Kurda stated firmly.

Aadela sighed. She briefly touched his cheek and went away; her time there was up.

* * *

"Surprise."

Darren jumped with fright and was close to falling from the cliff. "What the hell, Aadela. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just here to watch the show..." She replied breezily. He didn't really like the tone, though. It sent shivers down his spine.

"Why're you here? You're not supposed to be here, are you?"

"Why not?" She laughed, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Relax. I've just recovered from depression and come awake from a coma."

"You're here for the vampaneze, aren't you?" He asked, turning his gaze back into the cave.

"A few."

He couldn't help turning his attention back to her, though. She was squatting, and her hair framed her oval face giving the sharpness a softness, and streamed down lusciously. He couldn't help but wonder how it would feel to comb his hands through her hair. He'd been startled when there was a curtain of brown bang on his face, and he'd realised that it was her who had come to help him. When she'd fainted after he finished his tale, he'd been devasted to be the cause of her distress. And when she'd woken up and come to the Hall of Khledon Lurt, he'd been shocked to see her: her body, once easily melding to his embrace, had hardened; once warm, had now become cold; her eyes, dark but fiery, lively and happy, had become cruel; her voice, deep and pleasing, had become hollow and harsh.

He wanted to breathe back the warmth in her. His embrace didn't work, so he decided to fight frost with frost, just like one should use fire while fighting with fire. And now she was back, and so was the spirit for revenge and the bloodlust. He longed to know how she used to be before she was destroyed. Before _he_ destroyed her.

"Say... you find one of them." Darren began. "What are you going to do?"

"Don't ask stupid questions." Aadela replied coolly. "I'm going to kill him, of course."

"Well, I though -"

"The point is that _he_ never thought, nor cared." Aadela hissed through gritted teeth. "And if this is your way to try to disentangle me away from my revenge, then you might as well shut up."

"Aadela -" Darren began, hurt.

"Shh!" She hissed, and Darren returned his attention to the cave. The attack had begun.

Aadela stared intently at the ongoing battle, gauging carefully the plus and the strong points of the cave, the space for usage of different weapons, the minset of the enemies and allies alike and their moves, when something, rather someone, caught her attention.

An old memory from the past played in her mind.

_"So, sugar, want to come join us?" He leered... He groped... stepped on her shoulder... screamed..._

Aadela jolted awake. She rose slowly from the ground, confusion splayed across her mind. Her grip on her sword became tighter, her stance became aggressive, her face became hot. And she charged.

"He's mine!" She snarled animalistically at the vampire who was fighting him. The vampire, thought surprised by her push, recovered quickly, and made an attempt to slap her hard when she sent him an uppercut and bashed her fist straight into his chest. Not losing a single more moment, the vampaneze made to advance on her, but she grabbed his arm in mid air, and with a sadistic leer turned it halfway across.

It did pain the vampaneze, but did nothing to deter him. He lashed his sword clean across her neck, but she blocked it quickly. She gave short and forceful strokes, made a slash at his leg, kicked him at his shins, blocked a hash, twirled around, did a backflip to stand after a failed roundhouse, ducked, made a swipe at his abdomen, stuffed the handle into his shoulder and turned around to face him. She was, however, too late, and he made a cruel slash down her back.

Screaming in agony, she fell flat on her back, and could do nothing much besides flailing her legs and crying from the pain. The vampaneze advanced upon her, leering. It made Aadela nauseaous, and rendered her helpless, both mentally and physically.

"Little hoity bitch, aren't ya?" He walked right up to her (_oh, in the same leering voice..._) and grabbed her (_oh, the same cruel grasp) _and put his hand against her throat, effectively choking her. Her feet began thrashing in thin air, and her eyes were bulging out.

There were tears in her eyes, both from the pain and the helplessness. Who did she think she was, planning to venture on a roaring rampage of revenge, when she wasn't even capable enough to hurt that ogre of a man with a simple kick? She was losing it all, but she wasn't ready to. She came back into reality, and summoning the adrenaline rush, she gave the beast a kick as severe as she could manage. To her extreme relief, the vampaneze cried out in sheer agony as he braced from the attack on his groin. Aadela fell to the ground in a rasping, crumpled heap, lungs still on fire.

Snatching the moment, she grabbed her sword and sauntered up the vampaneze who was now back on his feet. They locked swords for a few minutes, before Aadela removed her sword and went forth to go offensive. In an arch-like motion, she brought her sword down to his legs. The vampaneze brought down his sword to defend himself, but just at that moment, Aadela flicked her wrist, and inserted her blade into the handle of the other sword. She jerked the vampaneze's sword out of his grasp and flung it aside. The vampaneze's hands balled into fists. Initially confused and then annoyed, the vampaneze tried to butt his head into Aadela, but she sprung aside, and raising her sword in a slanted arch, she skinned the vampaneze's back.

The vampaneze screamed in horror, as blood oozed out from his entire back. Aadela strutted upto him, digging her nails into his scalp and pulling back his hair as hard as possible.

"Look at me!" She hissed. He had no option but to. "Look at me well. See my eyes whose defiance enthralled you. See my mouth which you so lewdly kissed. See my face whose beauty flamed your lecherous self. Do you remember me?"

He made a motion to grab her, but she was paying far too much attention to let her game slip away at that point. She released his face, and stepped down not once, but thrice on his shoulder. The vampaneze's pain knew no bounds, as his shoulder blades pierced his muscles and joints splintered apart.

"Look at my arm which you tried to crush! Look at my foot, which is exactly the way _you _broke my arm!" Aadela screamed. "Look at me, you fucking bastard! DO YOU REMEMBER ME?" With that cry, she raised her sword and skinned the good arm of the vampaneze - from shoulder to elbow.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" She asked in a voice choked by revenge. She sat down beside him, looking at him sadly, like a sad mother would look at her child. "Do you remember me?" She waited for him to answer. She raised her voice and visibly tightened the hold on her sword, as a sign of threat. "Answer me!"

"No." He blurted out, face contorted in pain.

Aadela rubbed her face in frustration. "Once upon a time," she began in a cool voice, a ghastly mockery of the situation, "a little boy who believed in myths and legends of vampires went on an adventure in a big city. He skipped and danced, until he came upon nothing else but three creatures of the legend which fascinated him since he was even smaller! He listened, curious, about what the creatures had to say. He came home, terrified, but amazed. Everything was going fine, until one night, when the little boy, thirsty as a man who has just crossed the wide hot Arabian Desert, got up to fetch himself some water.

"And lo and behold! What should he see? But the three creatures of the night themselves! He was scared... for himself, and his family, for he was an innocent, smart and good boy. His little sister came to help him, and so did his good, loving parents, but it was too late. The poor boy died. His parents died. But his sister didn't. The bad, bad men went around, troubling and teasing his sister, and they almost killed her too. But she was saved by a fair, handsome young man who happened to be her cousin, and who also happened to be another creature of the night. He saved his little cousin, and gave her a gift, and she too became a creature of the legend.

"But the poor little sweetheart was damaged for life. She swore to win over the bad men, and continues to love her family and still lives. And do you know what? She's getting her revenge, right now, as we speak."

The vampaneze was looking at her, hatred and apprehension in his eyes. "You...really think...that you'll be able to kill me?" He wheezed.

Aadela slitted her eyes. "Watch me."

She flipped him on his back, and this time, skinned his chest, from the chest to the navel. The vampaneze couldn't help but scream. "You...can't kill me."

"Then what am I doing right now," Aadela snapped. "Singing you a lullaby?"

"You're too young... your conscience will kill you." The vampaneze grimaced.

Aadela smiled in a shark like way. "Who are you to speak of conscience? Did you have a conscience when you killed my family as they asked for mercy? As for me dying from my conscience..." Aadela replied as she made short work of his right leg, "I'd died that night. It's time for you, now."

Saying so, she slid the sword deep in his body... so deep, that the faint lines of his organs came into view. She flicked him to his now split open stomach with her foot, and did an equally deep cut in the back. The vampaneze's screams reached a new intensity as he shuddered, before stopping - forever.

* * *

London Bridge is falling down

Falling down, falling down

London Bridge is falling down

My fair lady.

_She'd always confused the London Bridge with the Bloody Tower. When she'd been little, she'd gone to London. She fell in love with the city: its ancient, kingly architecture and history, coming out through the modern times. It was sensous, awe-inspiring... but those were too complex words for a 5 year old._

_"Mommy, look, this is where they hung the heads!" She exclaimed gleefully. _

_"No, sweetie... that's the London Bridge." Her mother looked up from the map she was reading._

_"Well, the London Bridge was only formed in the early 19th century for economical purposes," The kind, sweet and pretty Tour Guide piped in, "Whereas the Bloody Tower, or more appropriately known as a hyped up part of the Tower of London, which was built in the 11th century, as part of the Norman Conquest of England."_

_"Didn't King Henry execute people up at the Tower?" She asked._

_"Well, it got its name much before King Henry," The tour guide explained. "But yes, he did execute his first wife and her brother up there."_

_Aadela wasn't listening. She was too trapped in her own fantasies to appreciate the truth. In her fantasy, the Tower of London stood tall, proud and strong, drenched with blood of the executed - traitors and scum alike._

* * *

_Begrieving snow falls in the dead morning_  
_Stray dog's howls and the footsteops of Geta pierce the air_  
_I walk with the weight of the Milky Way on my shoulders_  
_But an umbrella that holds onto the darkness is all there is._

Aadela stumbled out of the cave, senseless of anything around her, except the blood on her. Hugging her body, dripping from her hands, coating her hair, painting her lips and framing her eyes. Her sword was loose in her hands, forgotten and not cared for. It was an instrument of death, nothing more. It had lived up to its objective, and now was the time for reminiscing, for constructing a memorabilia. It was time for contemplating what next, for it was too late to be ashamed about what you've done, with full focus and burning desire.

She felt numb. Exhausted. Dirty. Cold. A hunger had had its edge bitten off, but it was still not satiated. She felt hungry for more. And with that thought, she felt even colder.

_I'm a woman who walks at the brink of life and death_  
_Who's emptied my tears many moons ago._  
_All the compassion tears and dreams_  
_The snowy nights and tomorrow hold no meaning._

She'd officially made hatred a part of her life now. Life and death had been constantly shifting their troughs, but now they were rather clear: you were dead if there was more blood than flesh on your body. And you were alive if you had a sword in your hands and fire in your soul. There was no turning back now. She'd killed someone, and she'd enjoyed it. She'd tormented him by a barbaric way. She had watched him squirm, try to fight the urge to beg mercy with the law to die honourably. Hmph... Honour. It was nothing but a portfolio of your achievements. You use it far too much, you won't be able to add any more achievements.

You use it stupidly, you'll be called an idiot. You use it too less, you might as well go sell yourself. After living a painful life with creatures who called themselves 'honourable' whilst they killed just for savage pleasure, and laughed at something called logic, she didn't want to be honourable. She was a killer - a killed with an aim - and she respected herself for that. _That _was her honour.

_I've immersed my body in the river of venegance_  
_And thrown away my womanhood many moons ago_  
_On the behalf of heaven, they're our soldiers, the loyal, invincible and brave._  
_Now it's time for them to leave the country of their_  
_Parents, their hearts buoyed by encouraging voices._

She felt as if she was sinking under not only the plunging, unforving waterfall, but all the blood that was flowing away. Coppery, orangish-yellow... it filled her senses. The pain, mental and physical, the sadness, the slight but all the same present guilt, the fact that nobody could ever begin to understand her, not even Darren - it was all weighing her down further. It was surprising she still managed to stay afloat in the little pond.

However, she'd already immersed herself far deeper between the rift of humanity and that which lay beyond humanity. It had caused her to become warped, small, cold, and was pushing her to go further. As she got up, she felt the last bit of remorse and innocence being thrown away. She could finally relate to a sociopath.

_They are solemnly resolved not to return alive, without victory._  
_Here at home, the citizens wait for you._  
_In foreign lands, the brave troops_  
_Instead of kindness from someone._

Many died in the cave. But for Aadela, the loss was more personal. She had lost a part of herself, and gained another. She knew that she would never be able to be freely kind, unflinchingly loving, helpfully sweet, easily believing and quickly appreciative again. She'd killed a part of herself. The human part. It was not completely dead, but a major portion was skinned away from the roots.

She couldn't deny her admiration for those soldiers who'd defended and killed for their clan. Darren suffered losses. So did many others. But could they ever match up to the loss of losing yourself; the loss of losing your innocence by shedding blood through torture, however satisfactory and deserving; the loss of... fully being your past self again?

_I do not care about_  
_I rather prefer selfishness from you my beloved._  
_Oh, is the world a dream or an illusion?_  
_I am all alone in jail._

Darren thought her to be sick. She looked sick, cold, withdrawn. She looked as if she'd been dragged from another world and brought to this one. As for her, she couldn't decide whether it had really happened or not. Whether it was still a dream, or a hallucination? The shock had begun to dissipate, but the questions still persisted. She was all alone in the world and nobody could reach her. And the world was shrinking closer to her from all sides. Soon, she would be compressed to nothing.

She wanted empathy; nothing else would do. Any emotion, which pretended to convey understanding of the situation was not desired by her. Even aloofness would do. After all, wasn't she aloof herself?

* * *

"Thank goodness!" Darren exclaimed. "I was beginning to worry about you."

"Why?" Aadela asked. "Did you see my body in the heap of the dead or the injured?"

Darren frowned at her question and tone. "What's bitten you?"

"I'm not in a mood to give or receive sympathy, Darren." Aadela replied shortly, indifferent to his annoyance. "Leave me alone." She began walking away. Darren grabbed her arm none too lovingly.

"Since the time I've come back, you've been acting indifferent, stuck-up, stand-offish, cold, spiteful and aloof," Darren hissed into her face. "I'm tired, I'm scared and sad, and that doesn't make me any different than you."

"I am _not _scared," Aadela glared, trying to pry her arm free, but to no avail.

"I've tried to ask you, to comfort you," Darren continued, ignoring her, "but you didn't want to respond. And then you crumble into a mass of self-pity and tears, before you become quiet again. I'm losing my patience, Aadela, and if you think you can be so mercurial whilst I'm always running after you, then you're sadly mistaken, much as I love you."

They glared at each other for what seemed like eternity. "I'm-I'm..." Aadela stumbled, heat rushing to her face. She took a deep breath. "I'm... sorry. I just killed someone, after skinning them and torturing them, that's all."

Darren looked at her with an inscrutable emotion. "How do you feel about it?"

"You might as well be asking me whether I want to stab myself!" Aadela snapped. "Don't ask idiotic questions."

Darren lost his cool, and did what he would never have imagined doing: he slapped her hard. She was too stunned by the pain, and the fact that _Darren_ had slapped her. "After what I've told you less than a minute ago, you're at it once again. Don't take me or others for granted. Help yourself, if you want to."

Aadela felt the first tears sting her eyes. But she didn't wail. She couldn't: she'd become too reserved for that.

* * *

"Sorry, lass, but you can't go in - only a Vampire General can, and that too, only a high ranking one." The Vampire Guard outside Kurda's chambers replied.

"I'm Cher's assistant, that's enough, I should think." Aadela replied.

"It's not for you to decide what's enough or not." The guard snapped.

"It's not for you to close the ground for any interrogation." Aadela snapped back.

"And what interrogation, may I ask?" the guard sneered.

"Well, if you had the answers to the questions which I want to ask, you would be the one locked up in that chamber, not Kurda Smahlt." Aadela was running out of patience. "Now let me in."

"I'm going to tell the Generals about this." The guard muttered but stepped aside.

"Tell what? That a girl came and interrogated him? I might just as well add my suspicions about you being hand-in-hand with Kurda too." Aadela retorted and disappeared into the chamber before the guard could strike her down.

"Ah, Aadela, you've come again." Kurda muttered darkly.

"Ah, Kurda, you recognised me." Aadela tittered. "But then again, am I not recognisable?"

"You're wasting your time around me. Go back to Darren - I'm not going to tell you anything more."

"Why? So that he can slap me again?" Aadela asked, woefully.

"What?" Kurda sat up straighter. "He slapped you?"

"What are you going to do about it?" Aadela asked, the glint in her eyes hidden in the darkness ofac the room.

"Aadela, leave me now." Kurda said shortly. "If you've anything important to say, blurt it out."

"Aren't we a bit on the dark side today?"

"What, by Charna's guts, is the matter with you?" Kurda roared. The guard rushed in, spear on the offensive, and Kurda flinched, but she only casually glared back at the guard, and gestured with her face for him to get out.

Once he was out, she continued, "Here, some bread, meat, and water." She sighed. He looked at the eatables, and began devouring them.

"In the cave, where you hid the vampaneze," she began half-heartedly, "I found one of them. Them referring to the people who made me what I am today - cold, sick, homeless, loveless and warped."

"And what did you do?" He asked, already guessing the answer.

"I killed him." She replied simply.

"And you enjoyed it?" He asked dubiously.

"Yes," She replied, keeping up the same tone, "I did. But I feel hollow now. Why is that so?"

"When you kill someone, you not only kill their body, but you kill their ideas, their thoughts. You kill what they could've become. You kill their minds. You kill... the light they held." Kurda stated, his tone heavy.

"I feel like I _have to _kill his partners now." Aadela said. "Earlier, I _wanted _to kill them all. But now, I both _want_ to and _have_ to!"

"And such is the grief of killing," Kurda mused. "You feel guilty, you feel sad, you feel desirous, you feel _hollow_..."

"Tell me... does this make me mad? Does it make me evil?"

"It only proves that you're still raw, still so innocent. Most people change after killing, for worse."

"I'm changing." Aadela replied bitterly. "I can already feel it."

"No..." Kurda said softly. "I can see it in your eyes: you're sad, you're desirous, but you're not after wanton killing. You're confused, aren't you?"

"Terribly so." She nodded her head. "Especially since I've probably repeled Darren away from me."

"He was upset because you killed?"

"No," she said. "He was upset with the way I was behaving: masochistic, cold, miserly, self-pitying, indifferent, spiteful, stand-offish, aloof, antipathic, and well, so much more..."

"Did you tell him what you did?"

"No." she replied morosely.

"Well, then, he has no right to judge." Kurda assured her. "I don't believe you can be so negative. True, I've not seen you in your happiest moment, perhaps, but I've seen enough to know that you're quite the opposite of all the negative emotions you just spoke about!"

Aadela had begun to sob. "You're the only person alive who likes me!"

Kurda chided, "You know that's not true."

"It is." She sniffed. "If you love me... then please, kiss me..."

There was a pause. Aadela could've almost vomitted with the anxiety and despair, but suddenly, she felt herself almost sinking in a pair of arms and pleasure. He was kissing her very tenderly, and she wrapped her arms around him. His lips were firm, and she found herself admiring their softness when she kissed. All of a sudden, her body snapped itself out of the loving trance and embrace, and she thrust her face into the shadows. She couldn't see his face either.

She threw him a bottle. "Empty the entire bottle and you'll be as numb as a brick. That is, if you want not to feel the pain. Those sons of bitches are betting how long you'll survive on the stakes, you know."

She could hear him breathing heavily. "Aadela -" he began, but was cut short.

"Farewell, dear heart." she replied, tears cracking her voice, before she ran out of his chamber.

* * *

Kurda's trials were almost her own trials. The more he revealed, the more angry she felt. Darren had said once to her, _You can't be angry with one who your best interests at heart_.

Was this her same Darren, then, who knew that even though Kurda's method was hampered with haste and desperatness, he was actually very right at the heart and at the mind?

She was sitting right next to him. She nudged him to argue for him. She knew he liked him. She knew that he even almost stood up for him. She nudged him again.

"_Please...For me..."_ She whispered.

He never stood up.

Paris was going to say something, but got interrupted, when she stood up, trembling.

"I have much to say in Kurda's favour." She began. "Kurda... is a hero. You all might think that I've gone mad," she gulped, "but trust me, I've not. He might not be a hero who does much good for everyone, but he certainly is a hero - to save many. His aims were benevolent. He was ready to sacrifice. True, he _might've_ taken life unneccessarily, but it would have been for a cause. I'm not against Gavner, oh hell no! I liked him as much as probably almost everyone in this room did! I'm not even defending Kurda's actions... They've caused sorrow, they might be rash, but they were well thought out.

"Yes, he failed. Yes, he betrayed. But could you ask yourselves why he betrayed? Could you?" Aadela's voice rose and fell magnificently, drawing the right stress at the right words, and managing to keep up the attention of all - like a natural orator. "I bet you can't! You know why he betrayed? It's because of the aspects of your own personalities - the aspects which you call honour and spirit and bravery and tradition. In the presence of our worthy Princes, let me make it clear - I do not mean to offend anyone. But isn't the hatred which you first thought necessary, only proved to be a bane for you? Isn't the honour which compelled you to shun the vampaneze coming back to haunt you in the form of vengeance?

"I'm not siding with the vampaneze. They've not given me any reason to. I do not loathe the whole of them, but I do loathe three of them, out of whom one has been killed by me. But do we realise that many of these people, whom you've killed or are going to kill, are the same as us? They're the same as us, because they've similar hopes, similar aspirations, similar thoughts and oh, so much more! And what Kurda sought to show to us was this very truth! So are we going to thank him by showing him to the pit of stakes?

"Perhaps many of you have still not understood what I mean to say. But if you want to get the logistics, then here goes! Yes, Kurda has not succeeded, but he has managed to warn us of the impending danger! He has managed to win the trust of many vampaneze - let them go, and use Kurda's diplomatic potential to win the war!"

There was a complete silence as everyone listened to her. No one objected. The Princes retired for another debate.

"We have decided considered your words, Aadela Felix." Mika said. "And your words hold true. But some things are a bit impossible, so to say. To talk about them is one stuff, but to actually be able to execute them... nay. Your words are well thought out and piercing, but age and experience will teach you why we must disregard your words, and go ahead with our decision to execute the traitor."

And it was the last time she peered into such an intelligent, smiling pair of brilliant blue eyes.

* * *

"You could've saved him." She screamed. "They would've listened to you!"

"Yes, but I didn't want to." Darren screamed back.

They were in a secluded cavern, having arrived there after following each other while prancing about in anger and frustration. Even amidst her anger, she had the wits to remember the path through which they arrived.

"He was your friend!"

"And a traitor!"

"Your friend, all the same!"

"A treacherous one, if I might add!"

"A friend or a traitor, Darren," she asked, mimicking scales in her hands, "Which has more weightage?"

"He betrayed me. He betrayed all of us. He killed Gavner!"

"Yes..." She said. "And I don't thank him for that. But you could've said something for me..."

"What use would it have been?" Darren asked bitterly. "The Princes wouldn't have listened anyhow - you know that! Besides... you would've been too warped in your own self to even remember me for it - yourself and Kurda, right?"

* * *

Darren was "Darren the Vampire Prince" now. _Her _Darren.

But was he still hers?

She didn't care.

If he didn't want to love her, didn't want to take what she offered, didn't want to reply to what she spoke, it was fine by her. She was done with being too sentimental about anyone. She would love him, she would offer him her best, she would speak to him, no matter what.

Right now, all she cared about was his success and his joy. She stood up, along with the many others, to clap for him. A small smile played on her lips, and it shook when she thought that Darren was looking at her.

_That's silly... How could he find me in a crowd of thousands?_

Nevertheless, her smile deepened, when she thought she felt something brush her cheek very lightly. It was like a caress... the wind's caress, the caress of someone she knew. She looked to her left, startled. Of course, there was nobody. But she did think that she _was_ looking at something... or someone. A spirit, perhaps?

* * *

There was a knock at her door.

She had been sitting in her room for hours now, admiring her family photo. She still missed her family, but she was robbed of the suicidal tendencies which sprang like thoughts in her mind. It was all for the good.

She knew by then that the dark side she'd picked up in the cave was not gone, and it would never go. It would only deepen with time. She wouldn't be a sociopath or a murderer, but she wouldn't be a very merry, optimistic, ever-believing person anymore. For now, she only clung to the good memories of a life she both remembered and forgot. She knew that one day, she would only keep them by her side.

"Come in!" she replied.

Darren entered. Aadela was tremendously surprised to see him, but didn't show it. That was another thing - she was more guarded, more reserved, less freely giving now.

"Yes, Darren?"

"Aadela... how are you?" He asked amidst deep, breaths.

"Yes, good, Darren." She stood up, tucking away the photo. "Congratulations to you, _sire._" She smiled, to show him that she wasn't being sarcastic.

"Is that a photo of your family?"

"Yes."

"Would you show it to me?"

She bit her lip, before taking out the photo. "There... in the very centre, that's me; my brother, Saiansh; right behind us are my dad, Sam and mom, Priya; then to dad's left is my paternal uncle, Dexter, and his wife, Rita, and their son, Harrison; behind the uncle are my paternal grandparents, Jesse and Julianna and Gene; coming over to my mother, at her right is my maternal aunt, Alice, and her husband, Spencer, and their daughter, Jill; behind mom are my maternal grandparents, Beatrix and Bill; and finally, in front of me, is my dog, Choco, and cat, Selvie."

Darren was silent as he studied the photo extensively. Finally, he spoke, "You looked so happy... so different from now."

She bowed her head.

"Look, Aadela... I'm sorry." He lifted her chin. "I'm sorry for what I said and how I behaved. It was stupid and rash of me. I didn't know the facts, and I thought you to be the wrong-doer of everything. I didn't mean what I said - I'm so sorry!"

She gave a sad smile. "Oh, yes, you did, Darren, yes you did." She shrugged. "You were quite right about Kurda. But, I forgive you. And, I'm sorry too, because much of my behaviour was also very unreasonable and repulsive."

"It's okay." Darren smiled.

"No, it isn't." She only realised after she said it that they were standing very close to each other.

"Why?" Darren wrapped his arms around her.

"Because..." she said, entwining her arms too, "Because... we must promise not to fight again."

Darren kissed her, and she kissed him back. "Easier said than done." They smiled, as they rested their foreheads against each other's.

**The End... **

**For now!**

* * *

**Phew! Finally, I'm done with it! Yeah! :D My first novella! Lol! That was so long... But I hope you enjoyed it. I'll be beginning the work on the sequel, _Past, I followed; Now, I lead _very soon... Very soon being like... a month? Because I want to do a story or two on some other genres too, instead of becoming totally DARREN SHAN oriented (not that I mind!)**

**Well... I hope some of you could see the humour in the names of the family people of Aadela... Dexter... or... Kill Bill... or Resident Evil, anyone? Lol! Well, see you around... and a very BLOODY NEW YEAR! LOL!**


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